The Author's POV

Calm.

When Malik's eyes stopped on me and our eyes met, I felt completely at ease.

His pressure…

It was terrifying. More than I could've bargained for. Enough to make me feel suffocated with just a single breath.

'<SSS-> rank.'

Although it was unclear to those watching, I, who was close to achieving <SS-> rank, could discern from a quick glance what level he had attained.

The way the mana around him bent to his will…

The way the world seemed so focused on him…

And the pressure that closely resembled a couple of figures I had met in the past…

Without a single doubt, he had broken through to <SSS-> rank.

"Hm?"

Before I knew it, he was a couple of steps away from me.

"You must be Ren Dover…or should I say, 876?"

His voice echoed out. It sounded crisp and pleasant to the ear, yet, at the same time, felt extremely chilly.

Nevertheless, I didn't get shaken up by his voice or pressure. At this moment, it seemed as though the emotion known as 'fear' had completely dissipated from my body.

My head tilted slightly as I asked in a rather monotonous tone.

At this point, I was starting to doubt whether the one speaking was me or the other me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

As he said, Malik Alshayatin, or lesser known as Hemlock, took a step to the side and gestured in the direction of Smallsnake's grave.

"...I'm here to pay a visit to my friend."

His remarks would've normally have made me angry, but as I've said before, the emotion known as "anger" vanished from my body. His reply aroused no emotion from within me.

At this point, I realized that something was wrong, yet at the same time, had no time to understand what was going on.

"Friend? Last time I heard, you were the one responsible for killing his own mother? I'm sure no friend would actually do that."

"…So he's still hung up on that."

Hemlock quietly whispered to himself.

The whisper was low, but it was audible enough for me to hear. He then repeatedly pointed toward his chest.

"You see, it was only because I was his friend that I did what I did. I did it to make sure he understood...understood just how serious the situation is. In the end, I did everything for his benefit. I wished to show him the reality of the world!...and the death of his mother was the only way that I could open up his eyes. I wanted him to understand just how feeble human life is."

Without realizing it, my brows knit as I noticed signs of agony on his face.

'Why is he making such a face?'

I was starting to grow curious. What exactly was he trying to say?...and why did it seem like he genuinely felt that his actions were correct?

"What reality are you speaking of?"

Curiosity got the better of me in the end.

"He..."

Hemlock lowered his head and met my sight. He let out a tired sigh.

"...The reality that joining the demons is the only way for humanity to avoid extinction. We won't be able to protect ourselves in any other manner."

'What sort of nonsense is this.'

I wanted to blurt out loud these words, but as soon as my mouth opened, I realized that I couldn't.

My mind grew numb when this realization dawned on me.

Hemlock on the other hand seemed to have noticed my reaction and a thin smile formed on his face.

"It appears that you are aware of the seriousness of our situation. Your inability to refute my arguments suggests that you are aware that they are not mere heresy from a psychopath, as the others appear to make it out to be."

My hand started to clench.

But it wasn't out of anger, but rather, annoyance.

His words…

I had no means to correct them. After observing the various regressions that my body underwent, I realized that the demon king was an entity that was simply too strong to be beaten.

One might think that after multiple regressions defeating the demon king would be possible, but it didn't seem to be the case as both Kevin and I failed.

Even after hundreds of different regressions occurred, it always ended with the timeline resetting.

Had it been anyone else but me, they would've perceived Hemlock as an absolute psychopath, but for someone like me, who understood the truth…his words...they didn't sound that wrong. Rather, they sounded rather convincing.

…and that was worrying.

There was a sudden look of understanding on Hemlock's face.

"You appear to have met his majesty based on the expression on your face. You can't really grasp how hopeless the situation is until you actually meet him. It was from my short meeting with him that I understood just how dire our situation was."

It was Hemlock's words that snapped me out of my thoughts.

He was still rambling about the demon king and how powerful he was.

He didn't need to tell me to know this much. I already knew and experienced the helplessness that came with meeting him. Hence why I shifted the topic away to something else.

"How did you know that Smallsnake was dead?"

"Smallsnake?"

Hemlock blinked his eyes a couple of times. Seemingly unable to understand who Smallsnake was.

It was only after I pointed at his tomb that he understood who I was talking to.

"Oh, you mean Brian?"

"Right…"

Brian was indeed his name.

Hemlock slowly nodded his head. Turning around to look at Smallsnake's tomb, he sighed.

"Actually, I didn't know until last year. I was too busy trying to break through to notice that anything happened to him."

Brushing his hair to the side, he fixed his eyes on me.

"…But do you seriously think that Brian could actually hide away from me? Especially from someone like you whom we have been keeping a close eye on after it was revealed to us that you were 876?"

I stared back at him without saying anything.

Indeed, for someone as powerful as the Monolith, it wouldn't be strange for them to know my movements. Although I took a series of precautions to ensure that they didn't know all of my movements, it was inevitable for them to hold some information about me, such as who worked for me and stuff.

"I put a little lump of mana into his body just before we parted ways. There was no grand purpose behind it. It was so that I could find him as long as I was nearby. Just by feeling the mana, I would be able to get a general idea of where he was...It was also because of this that I knew that he was working in the black market.

Surprisingly, the answer I received was far off from what I assumed was the case.

"I never did anything to him over the past couple of years because I hoped that he would slowly start to understand me."

"I was planning on meeting him up again soon, but as I was too busy with several problems that occurred due to a certain someone…"

A slight pause ensued after he said those last words. From the way he was looking at me, I knew about what he was talking about.

He was definitely referring to the 876 incident. Who would have imagined the incident would have, in its own way, saved Smallsnake?

"He unexpectedly vanished from the human realm as soon as I was preparing to approach him again after solving all the issues that you caused, but no matter how hard I looked for him, I was unable to locate him. How astonished was I, do you know? I briefly believed that he had passed away before realizing that I was still connected to the mana I had left in his body."

"From there I realized that he was outside of the human domain, and waited. Waited for him to come back…"

Raising his hand to cover his face, Hemlock suddenly laughed.

"…And that's where more problems came up. I got totally played by Octavious when he sent me a fake corpse of what was supposed to be you."

He inched a little forward.

The pressure that came out of his body became extremely overbearing, sealing all my movements.

His low, deep and sinister voice reached for my ears.

"I'm not one to get angry easily...but...you...you've managed to anger me more times than I could've ever imagined. First, with all the troubles, you caused at our headquarters, then when you sent us the fake corpse in your place..and lastly..."

He slowly turned his head to face Smallsnake's grave.

"...and lastly, your inability to protect Brian."

The ground beneath cracked, forming a one inch deep circular crater.

I couldn't move my body while this was happening. It wasn't like back when Jezebeth sealed all parts of my body, but it felt as though over fifty trucks were weighing down on me.

It felt agonizing.

Nonetheless...

I mustered every bit of strength inside of my body and moved my finger. It was just a simple movement. A simple tap in the air with my index finger.

But it was that seemingly gentle tap that brought rise to an incredible scene.

An echoing hollow, clicking sound resembling two glasses tapping against each other echoed out, bringing forth four bright, yellow rings that stretched outward. After that, there were rifts in the atmosphere where vivid, yellow, tangible sword energies slowly emerged. In the space of a few seconds, Hemlock was consumed by over thirty sword energies. All aiming at him with their pointed tips.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The air around us started to shake, and so did the surroundings. Leaves fell from the trees and the ground beneath us cracked even more.

"Not bad, not bad."

Hemlock was the first of the two of us to give up just as the situation was about to get out of hand. The tightness that had been encircling me dissipated as soon as he raised both of his hands in the air in a sign of retreat.

The sword energies in the air disappeared at the same time the pressure disappeared.

Fixing his clothes and coat, Hemlock calmly looked around him.

"...It would've been nice for us to continue our little bout, but it would be inappropriate for us to do it here. I may be the leader of the Monolith, but I'm not heartless."

He laughed to himself before he took a step forward and paused beside me. He then pressed his hand against my shoulder.

"Of course, the fact that we're still in a truce means that I can't touch you just yet, but..."

A smile slowly formed on his face and his eyes paused on Amanda who was standing behind me.

"...You should keep a good watch on those that are close to you. Let me remind you, the Monolith has eyes everywhere."

He gave my shoulder a light pat before walking away from the scene, leaving Amanda and I standing by ourselves in the cemetery, which was now in a mess.

The anger that I previously felt was gone slowly started to emerge from deep within my body, but I was able to suppress it.

I then slowly closed my eyes and clenched my fists.

'...I need to break through to <SS-> rank.'

Even though our exchange was brief, there was still a clear difference between Malik Alshayatin's skills and mine. I wouldn't be able to fight him unless I advanced to <SS-> rank, and even then, the likelihood of me winning was slim.

I couldn't waste any more time.

"Ren?"

I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder, and I snapped out of it. I didn't need to turn to know it was Amanda.

Taking a deep breath, I turned around.

"Are you okay?"

She asked, in a rather worried tone.

Staring deeply into her eyes, I shook my head and honestly answered her.

"No...no, I'm not."

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