The Author's POV

"Had to take him before things got serious."

Thud—!

Placing Aaron's body down on the ground, Waylan turned to face the distance.

Next to him, with his head lowered, Douglas looked at the battered-up Aaron. Thanks to the potion that Ren had given him, the injuries that he had sustained from the torture were slowly healing up.

But that was obviously not enough. His body may be healing, but his mind wasn't. Fortunately, Douglas came prepared. Bending down, he pushed a small pill inside of his mouth.

"How is he?"

"His mind is unstable, but he should be fine now. He'll probably be back to normal by tomorrow."

Douglas stood up. Staring into the distance, he shook his head.

"It looks like Ren was not wrong when he told us that he might lose himself today."

They had already been warned by Ren beforehand that there was a chance that he might end up losing his mind.

In case that happened, he wanted them to stop him.

Everything that was currently happening had been planned out for the past week.

Originally, Ren had been planning on taking care of his issues with Aaron after the conference, but after realizing that he might be unable to hold back whenever he saw him, and potentially compromise his identity, he decided to just handle the situation on the get-go.

Rather than hold up the pent-up feelings boiling inside of him, he wanted to finally let loose.

Of course, this was granted that he wouldn't go too far…

Fortunately, Douglas and Waylan were here.

"For him to go on a rampage like this…he must've been suffering quite a lot."

Douglas deeply sighed.

In the time that Douglas had met Ren, he had only occasionally seen him lose himself. But it was never on the same level as what he was displaying right now.

'Just how much had he been suppressing himself?'

It came as a small shock to him.

"Yeah…"

Waylan replied with a solemn look, his eyes never leaving the area where Ren was.

To be more precise, his eyes were currently locked onto a certain girl in the distance.

'…Emma.'

He muttered inside of his heart. A longing feeling swelled up from deep within it.

"We don't have much time."

Disrupting him out of his thoughts was Douglas who glanced at his watch.

"Gervis said that the elves have agreed to only give Ren thirty minutes…"

"Should we stop them?"

"No…" Douglas shook his head. Interest flashed in his eyes as he looked into the distance. "Not yet. I want to see just how strong Ren has gotten. Of course, I also want to see just how strong the pupils Donna trained are...and I believe that Ren needs this to resolve some of the demons inside of his heart."

Despite his words, he was still planning on keeping his promise to the elves.

If either someone was about to die, or the time was up, Douglas would appear and stop everything. He was strong enough to ensure everyone's safety.

Lifting his head and taking his eyes away from his watch, Douglas softly muttered.

"Now…let me see just how strong you guys are."

***

Clank—!

A powerful wing gale spread apart as two swords intersected against each other. A metal ring lingered in the air for a brief moment of time.

Separating from each other, Ren and Kevin stared at each other. Neither one spoke.

Swooosh—!

Sensing something, Ren suddenly lowered his head and Jin appeared from above. Swinging his daggers horizontally.

Lifting his head, Ren stomped his foot on the ground. With a loud 'bang', the ground beneath him tore apart and Ren shot up. His eyes flickered, and Jin's movements suddenly started to slow down.

Touching the sheath of his sword, he prepared to attack, but before he could do that, he suddenly felt a powerful force coming from Kevin's direction.

Glancing from the corner of his eyes, Ren saw Kevin hold onto his broadsword with both hands. The surface of his broadsword pulsated repeatedly, as a faint destructive force lingered around it. The hue looked like a tall pillar that supported the whole sky.

Following this, Jin suddenly hooked his arms around Ren, restraining him.

"Do it!"

Jin shouted in Kevin's direction.

Nodding his head, Kevin muttered.

"Sorry, Ren...this might hurt a bit."

Taking a step forward, he soon appeared right in front of Ren. With his sword raised, he slashed down and terrifying pressure bore down on Ren.

TWIIIIING—

Restrained by Jin, Ren couldn't move. He could only watch as Kevin's attack slowly came at him. However, despite how dire the situation looked, he didn't panic.

Staring at the incoming attack, his eyes suddenly turned dull gray, and a monumental pressure suddenly bore down on everyone present. Jin's grip loosened slightly, and Kevin's attack faltered.

Taking advantage of this, stomping his foot on the ground, Ren propelled his body backward. With Jin still behind him.

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

Crashing against a tree, Jin spat a mouthful of blood as Ren turned around and punched out, hitting Jin right in the face. Following this, he quickly elbowed the side of his face, sending Jin into a daze.

Buzz Buzz

Right as he was about to follow up on his attack, a low buzz suddenly sounded from behind as Ren felt a frightening suction force. Grabbing onto the tree and pressing his feet onto the ground, till it cracked apart, Ren turned around.

Rumble—

A black-light sphere formed at the top of Kevin's sword. The surrounding rocks and debris flew at incredible speed towards the black hole. White light wildly rotated as the very air started getting sucked into the black hole.

This move was something that he had managed to grasp after mastering his four-star sword art, [Everlasting sunset.], it essentially allowed him to create a black hole that sucked everything inside of it and essentially restrained the movements of those that were subjected to it.

Crack. Crack.

The tree that Ren was gripping bent as the roots detached themselves from the ground.

A grave expression flashed across Ren's face. Grabbing onto the grip of his sword, a powerful hue suddenly sprang out from his body, enveloping the entire surroundings.

"Don't forget I'm here."

But right as Ren was gathering his mana, he suddenly heard Jin's cold voice.

Bang—!

Before he could even react, he felt a powerful force hit him in the stomach and he lost grip of the tree. His body shot towards the black hole.

As he flung backward, his indifferent eyes locked themself onto Jin, sending chills down his body.

Then, twisting his body in the air, till he came face to face with the black hole, Ren slowly pulled out his sword. A torrential amount of mana gathered toward him in a matter of seconds.

Click—!

The fourth movement of the [Keiki style] : World splitter.

After reaching the essence realm of mastery of the Keiki style, Ren finally managed to grasp the fourth, and second the last movement of the Keiki style. The world splitter, a terrifying move that tore everything within a certain radius apart.

A faint click sounded in the sorroundings as a deep silence suddenly descended upon the world as the suction force in the air disappeared.

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, like a piece of paper, the black hole was suddenly dissected into multiple different pieces.

Rumble—!

The ground tore apart, throwing dust and rock alike in the air like fast projectiles, and seismic quakes struck the place. Everyone lost their balance and fell to the ground.

With their eyes wide open, horror flashed across them as they stared at Ren softly land on the ground with a low 'thud.'

Thud—!

"Haaaa....haaaa...."

With heavy breaths, Ren stumbled a couple of steps. Stabbing his sword onto the ground, he fell to one knee.

"...huh?"

A strange sound came out of Ren's mouth as he turned his head.

"Where is he?"

His head darted all over the place. Panic dying his face completely.

"Where is he! Where is he!"

He shouted out loud. Completely forgetting his surroundings as he looked for Aaron's figure who had gone missing.

"Haaaa...no!"

Grabbing onto his head, Ren fell to both knees and screamed.

"No! No! No!"

Digging his nails into his face till he bled, the screams soon disappeared. Lifting his head, his bloodshot eyes paused on Kevin and the others.

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

"I said where is he!"

Standing up, Ren's chest moved up and down unevenly. As he walked, he stumbled on his steps. It was clear that he was tired, but despite this, he continued to move forward.

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

Before he could finish speaking, a powerful force came from his right side. It was Jin.

Raising his hand, Ren blocked the attack, but as he blocked the attack, his right leg gave out and he fell back. Following Jin's example, Kevin dashed forward and attacked. After him was Emma, and soon Ren found himself attacked by everyone.

"Khaaa!"

Ren tried to react, but at the end of the day, his mana reserve was limited. He was already at a numerical disadvantage, and with everyone attacking him from all sides, it wasn't long before he could no longer defend himself.

Bang—!

Pushed back by a powerful impact, Ren skid back a couple of meters away.

"Haaaa…haaa…."

His rough breathing echoed throughout the quiet forest. Raising his head, his cold and indifferent blue eyes rippled slightly.

Holding onto his right rib, Kevin stumbled forward.

"Ren, get back to your senses!"

He pleaded as he stared at Ren. But Ren shook his head.

"Where is he?…Where did you hide h...im!?"

His voice was rather weak. So weak that it made the others understand just how much pain he was going through.

Xiu!

It was then that a silver streak of light coarsed through the air and directly smashed against Ren's chest, sending him crashing against a tree.

Bang—!

"Khua!"

An agonized scream rang out and Ren weakly fell to the ground.

Supporting his body on all fours, Ren coughed up blood. Turning his head, his eyes paused on a long arrow. The very tip of it was blunt, but the force behind it was terrifying. At least three of his ribs were broken.

Lifting his head, his eyes soon interlocked with Amanda who had finally made her move.

"Y...you..."

He hatefully glared in the direction.

"Why!?"

Biting her lips, Amanda lowered her head. Hiding her expression behind her long hair.

"I..I'm sorry"

She softly mumbled, lowering her bow.

"Hold him back."

Following Amanda's words, Melissa nudged Jin and Kevin who Immediately dashed in Ren's direction and held him down on the ground.

"Khhh…let me go!"

Ren shouted out loud, trying his best to struggle out of Jin's and Kevin's hold. His spit flew everywhere as he screamed.

"Let me go!"

"Hold still."

Kevin and Jin may have sustained more injuries than him, but at the end of the day, they were two people, and they were not as tired as Ren was as they effortlessly held him down on the ground.

"Le…khh…t me…go!"

"Shut up."

Arriving before Ren, Melissa squared down. Taking out a small flask from her dimensional space, she opened the lid, grabbed Ren by the cheeks, and shoved them down his throat.

"Be a good boy and drink this."

"Khh…"

Despite Ren's attempts at not swallowing, lifting his head up, Melissa forced the drink down his throat, almost choking him multiple times.

Once she saw that Ren had drunk the whole potion, she stood up and patted her hands.

"I guess I'm done for now."

Clarity soon started to return in Ren's eyes as he stopped squirming around. Shocked by the development, Kevin raised his head and looked at Melissa.

"What did you give him?"

"What do you think?"

"Some sort of mind cleansing potion?"

"Close enough. I gave him a period tablet."

"Huh?"

"Kidding."

Turning around, Melissa caressed her slender neck.

"I just increased his serotonin levels. His mood should return to normal."

"Ah, I see."

Pretending to understand her words, Kevin nodded his head.

As long as it worked, he honestly did not care. Turning his head and staring at Ren, Kevin finally let go of his grip and stumbled back. But first against the ground.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Breathing out loud, he fixed his eyes on the moon in the sky.

'I'm tired.'

He quietly muttered, before a relaxed smile soon appeared on his face. Staring at Ren who had finally calmed down, his shoulders relaxed.

At last, the fight had ended.