The Author's POV-Novel

"You're Ren?" 

Waylan's eyes appeared to be squinting.

He examined Ren very carefully from top to bottom, and he had doubts about what he was saying. Even though he did look like Ren, the energy he was putting off was completely different... not to mention the fact that he appeared to be significantly stronger than he was before.

There was definitely something off about him. He just couldn't quite place his finger on it. 

"I find that hard to believe." 

"That's not something that I care about." 

In response to Waylan's display of skepticism, Ren did not show any interest in defending himself.

In fact, he had no real interest in anything. 

…He just wanted to get this done with already. 

"What an annoying response." 

The anger that was building up on Waylan's face manifested itself in the form of a rigid expression, and he rushed over to Ren. To protect himself, Ren quickly drew his sword from its sheath. At the same time, he directed the laws toward the body of the sword, covering it with them.

Only that… 

The moment Waylan's hand came into contact with the sword, the laws shattered. 

'This?'

Waylan smiled at it. 

"Did you think you'd be able to control the laws better than me? Someone who's wielded them for centuries?" 

Ren's brows furrowed slightly. This was proving to be more troublesome than he had anticipated. 

Bang―! 

Ren's body flew several meters back. When his body stabilized, Waylan appeared right behind him and pushed his only hand toward Ren's back. The space where his hand traveled fractured into several pieces.

"Whatever change you've gone through, it's far from enough." 

As soon as the palm made contact with Ren's back, his body shot off into the distance once more. 

While Ren's body was flailing about like a rag doll, there was no discernible expression on his face; however, there was noticeable blood streaking down the side of his mouth.

'Predictable.' 

While in mid-air, Ren suddenly twisted his body and slashed behind him. 

Clank―! 

Waylan's body appeared as he blocked the attack, and Ren finally stabilized himself.

Extending his finger forward, the space around Waylan cracked apart, and golden streaks of tangible sword energy pierced at him like a porcupine.

They came at him in all directions and at speeds that left one unable to react. 

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! 

However, just as they were about to pierce his body, they came to an abrupt halt.

Waylan broke into a grin as he took a closer look at the sword energies that surrounded him.

"How int―" 

His face froze into a stone-like expression as his head shot up, and he looked at Ren. 

WOOONG―! At this precise instant, a powerful ripple spread across the area they were in, shattering the space around them into a number of separate fragments.

The space had deteriorated to such an extent that one could actually make out Waylan's office behind it.

Cr― Crack! 

As quickly as it could, the space made several attempts to fix itself, but as soon as the large sword appeared above Ren's head, it was unable to do anything other than continue to shatter and rebuild itself. 

'It's that move again.'

Waylan immediately recognized the move as his eyes moved toward the hand that was no longer on his body. His internal laws surged to the surface in the form of golden runes, and a massive shield materialized in front of him.

At the same time, Ren's cold gaze paused on Waylan. 

"It's been a while since I've fought someone of this level. It seems like I'm still a bit rusty." 

The massive sword that was behind him continued to take shape and grow both more distinct and more substantial with each passing second.

Shhhh―! 

Ren drew his primary sword from its sheath as the second sword began to materialize behind him.

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak! 

The sword shattered into thousands of pieces, all of which became completely detached from one another as they rose up a few meters from each other. The blade that Ren held in his hand grew in size as a thin layer of white film connected the shards of the broken sword from piece to piece, creating a larger sword.

While staring at the white film covering his main sword, a sudden thought crossed Ren's mind. 

'It's risky… If all goes bad, I might die…' 

Those thoughts lasted seconds, and he put them into action. 

'Sounds good.' 

So what if he died? Wasn't that his goal to begin with? 

The outer white layer of the sword was obscured by a dark film that emerged from within Ren's body and covered it.

It was demonic energy. 

Within minutes of making its appearance, the white film began to wiggle, and a destructive power that was on par with the enormous sword in the background began to spread.

'I,impossible!' 

Waylan watched everything that was taking place with a horrified expression on his face.

The process of building up took only a few seconds in total. 

His original strategy was to defend the attack and then launch a counterattack shortly after when he was exhausted; however, he immediately abandoned that notion.

'I can't wait for him to attack.' 

It was an obvious decision.

His body suddenly materialized in front of Ren, and the barrier that had been forming in front of him vanished. His eyes gave off a dazzling white light.

As he arched his back, he did not withhold anything. He clenched his fist tightly, gathered all the strength he could muster, and then punched out.

"Don't push your luck." 

Crack. Crack. 

Everything shattered. 

As soon as he released his grip on his fist, the space around him began to shatter, and the background of his office became more distinct.

The paintings and pictures that were hung on the wall began to tremble, even if only very slightly, and the entire office began to shake.

WOOOONG―! The fist was aimed directly at Ren's face, and held nothing back. The sword behind him had only formed halfway, and he seemed to still be struggling to control his main sword, which was alternating between white and black. 

Taking note of this, Waylan held his breath in anticipation, but… 

"Right, I knew this would happen." 

Ren's eyes, which had been fixated on the sword, moved away from it as he changed his focus.

At that precise moment, the area around him began to warp, and the vacant gray pupils in his eyes concentrated on the punch that was drawing near. His expression remained unchanged despite the fact that the fist was drawing closer to his face. 

"Move." 

Just one word in total.

It was only one word, but as soon as he muttered it, golden runes appeared from the area around the fist and clamped onto it like a rope that pulled to the left, and the trajectory of the punch altered if ever so slightly.

When Waylan saw this, his eyes widened, and just as he was about to take control of the laws, he felt something touch his forehead, and when he looked up he saw two dull gray pupils staring back at him.

All of a sudden, everything came to a sudden standstill. 

"A... ah... how?" 

With his finger placed right on Waylan's forehead, a ripple spread from the point of contact, which expanded all throughout the pocket space. 

"You fell for it." 

The sword behind him disappeared, and so did the two energies around it.

'H,how.' 

It was so fast that Waylan wasn't even able to react. And in that brief moment, time seemed to have stopped. Locking his eyes against the emotionless looking Ren, Waylan watched as Ren's mouth parted open, and he muttered. 

"Boom." 

Boom―! Waylan's body vanished from view and then reemerged far off in the distance, slamming into one of the buildings.

BANG―

"Huak." 

He let out a pained groan.

The moment he slammed into the buildings in the distance, the surrounding area began to flicker, and the background of the office became increasingly distinct.

"Fool." 

Ren murmured as he materialized directly in front of Waylan, who was pinned up against the wall of the building. Both his hair and the Akashic Laws on his body were a mess, and his face was extremely pale.

On the other hand, while Ren was also not in the most optimal of shapes, his condition was a lot better. 

Cak. Cak. Cak. Cak. 

Stepping onto the ground, Ren's wings and the scales that covered his body began to retract in unison. He shrank to human size, regaining his human appearance in the process.

He casually walked toward Waylan, who weakly raised his head.

"Y,you can't do this." 

Ren stopped in front of him and looked down at him with his eyes. 

The gaze felt oddly familiar to Waylan, who suddenly recalled. 

It was the same gaze at which he looked at Ren just before their fight started, and it was there that Waylan understood something. 

In his eyes, he was insignificant. 

"Why can't I do this?" 

The calmness in his voice made Waylan's face grow pale. 

"I,if you kill me… J,jezebeth will come. I… I am the last barrier that is preventing him to come…" 

"Oh." 

Ren had a sudden understanding, and his hand pressed against Waylan's face. 

"Original last words." 

Crunch―!  His hand squeezed, and Waylan's face crushed under his hand. Even though there was a damp feeling all over his hand, Ren didn't appear to be bothered by it as he observed something peculiar.

"Is this how it is?" 

As soon as he let go of Waylan's body, the scenery around him began to crumble, and he was suddenly back in the office.

Ren didn't care in the least bit, as his eyes were focused on Waylan's body. There was a yellow orb levitating over his body, and he felt a familiar feeling coming from it. 

"Hmm." 

He, of course, knew what the orb was. He had seen it, and his eyes squinted. 

"What's done is done." 

He took his eyes away from it and turned his head away. His gaze settled over a sizable mirror by the side of the office. 

He calmly walked toward the mirror and looked at himself. 

…It had been a while since he'd last seen himself, and he'd almost forgotten that his hair and eyes were different from how they were back then. 

"Khh." 

He was unaware of the amount of time that had passed since he stood in front of the mirror; however, as he maintained his focus on the mirror, he suddenly noticed that both of his hands were resting on his throat.

Squeezing. 

"Khh…" 

The hold became increasingly tighter with each passing second, and even though he did not alter his expression in any way, he could clearly see the color fading away from his face.

He felt tempted. 

Tempted to end it all at this moment. 

This was his chance to finally accomplish his long awaited wish. 

He was just one squeeze away, but… 

"Not yet." 

He let go of his throat. With his gaze still fixed on the mirror, he repeated. 

"…not yet."