The Author's POV

Opening his eyes, Ren calmly stared at the demons coming at him from all directions. As he saw them coming his way, he felt nothing. 

No fear, no excitement, no anger...absolutely nothing. 

With an indifferent expression, Ren slightly moved his neck sideways as the hand of a demon brushed past his cheek. 

-Shuuuua! 

Thereafter, aiming towards the solar plexus, Ren turned his body 45 degrees as he elbowed the demon. 

-Bam!

As soon as Ren's elbow connected with the demon, a shockwave swept the surroundings as the other demons that were similarly headed in Ren's direction halted for a split second. 

"Khhhhaaa—!" 

Falling to the ground, the demon hit by the elbow spit out blood as he hold onto his chest area. He was in complete agony. 

Staring at the demon beneath his feet, Ren slowly said 

"Let me end the pain for you..." 

-Click! 

-Thud

Without looking at the demon, Ren placed his hand onto the grip of his sword. Shortly after a subtle clicking sound resounded across the area as the demon's head flew in the air. 

...All of this happened in a matter of seconds. 

-Shaaa! -Shaaa! 

A split second after Ren decapitated the demon, moving backward, Ren narrowingly avoided the hands of two demons as a strand of his hair flew in the air. 

-Dash 

Tensing his calves, Ren quickly shot backward and distanced himself from the other demons. As he moved back, a green hue enveloped the bottom of his feet as his movement increased with every step. 

"Get him!" 

"Die you vermin!" 

Staring at the six demons that were quickly approaching him, Ren's face remained calm and indifferent. Rather than focusing on their attacks, his attention was drawn towards their face. 

...and he soon noticed one thing. How completely unfazed they were by the fact that their fellow comrades died before them. There was no shred of fear or hesitation in their eyes. Almost as if they didn't care about dying.

Noticing this, Ren glanced in Kevin's direction. He was currently back on the ground fighting against the demon leader. 

Currently, both Kevin and the demon were in a stalemate. However, upon closer look, Ren could see that Kevin held a bit of an advantage. Despite the fact that neither of them budged from where they stood, Ren could tell by looking at the fine detail of their fight that Kevin was holding back whilst the demon leader was going all out. 

...Moreover, he was also starting to show signs of exhaustion. 

Thus without hesitation, as Ren moved backward, unsheathing his sword, Ren drew two circles in the air. 

-Swooosh! 

Thereafter, whilst still keeping an eye on the demons diving in his direction, quickly pointing towards Kevin, one of the circles flew in his direction. 

Right after doing that, stomping his foot on the ground, Ren forcefully changed direction as his body shot towards where Kevin was. His speed didn't decrease. No, rather, it increased. 

"No, you don't!" 

Noticing that he could no longer catch up with Ren who was speeding up by the second, a white glow enveloped one of the demon's hands. Glaring at Ren, he quickly slashed in his direction. 

-Thuaam!

Subsequently, as the demon slashed, a blue translucent image of a claw quickly headed in Ren's direction. 

-Swoooosh! 

Briefly glancing at the translucent claw headed in his direction, without hesitation, Ren pointed towards them as his other ring directly moved forward and blocked the demon's attack. 

-Bam! 

-Crash! 

As the claw clashed against the ring, for a couple of seconds neither refused to budge. However, shortly after, the glow around the ring diminished. Not even a couple of seconds after, the ring broke into millions of pieces as the translucent claw image moved forward. 

However, that was enough. Ren didn't need the ring to completely block the demon's attack. All he wanted was to delay the attack.

...Enough for him to reach Kevin. 

With his ever-increasing speed, Ren left after images of himself. As he moved, slowly, a white glow started emanating from his body. With each passing second, the white glow around his body intensified. 

"huuu..." 

A couple of meters away from the demon leader and Kevin, Ren exhaled as turbid air escaped from his mouth. 

Thereafter, arriving before the demon leader, at a speed that both Kevin and the demon couldn't react, pulling out his sword from the sheat of his scabbard, a white glow enveloped the surroundings. 

-Click! 

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

...

-Clank! -Clank! 

Fighting against the demon leader, Kevin skillfully and deftly dodged the sharp and pointy nails of the demon. 

With his sword, Kevin would counterattack shortly after the demon attacked. Like this, for the next few minutes, Kevin and the demon leader found themselves in a stalemate. 

One would attack and one would defend. This pattern continuously alternated between the two...however this did not last for long. Just as the demon leader was about to once again attack Kevin, appearing from out of nowhere, a translucent yellow ring appeared right when the demon was about to attack. Right at the moment the demon leader was about to lift his hand, and thus completely disrupting his momentum. 

-Swoosh! 

-Clank! 

Though the ring broke as quickly as it came, it still slowed down the attack by a split second. But that was enough for Kevin...

Taking advantage of the opening that was given to him thanks to Ren's ring, Kevin strengthened the grip of his sword and a red hue enveloped his body. Thereafter, Kevin slashed at full force. 

"huuuup!" 

-Slash! 

-Clank! 

"Khhh..." 

Taking a step back, to the demon leader's surprise, he now found himself on the losing end.

Noticing this, glancing away, he couldn't help but curse as he looked towards the six demons in the distance. 

"What are you doing! Kill him!" 

Enraged by the disruption, he couldn't help but shout at them.

"Turning your head away from me mid-fight? Foolish!" 

Appearing before the demon leader, Kevin hacked towards his body. 

-Clank! -Clank! 

Thus, for the next minute or so, Kevin and the Demon leader fought, with Kevin holding the advantage this time. 

With each passing second, Kevin's sword became heavier and faster. The demon leader was starting to struggle. Beads of sweat started dripping from the side of his face, as movements started becoming sloppier by the second. 

-Clank! 

On multiple occasions the demon leader tried to distance himself from Kevin, however, as if he was an octopus, Kevin continuously stuck onto him. Leavin him no space to breath. 

"Huup!" 

Once again, Kevin slashed. 

"Khhhhaaa—ah!" 

As Kevin's sword connected with the demon's sharp nails, to the demon leader's horror, one of his nails cracked. 

Noticing this, Kevin once again increased the speed of his attacks. 

-Slash! -Slash! 

-Clank! -Clank! 

Like this, Kevin's advantage became even more apparent.  As Kevin attacked, he couldn't help but notice one thing. 

Even though Kevin knew that he was currently suppressing the demon leader...he couldn't see this fight ending any time sooner. If things went on like this, Kevin felt that the fight would end in at least twenty more minutes...that was far too long for him.

During those twenty minutes, many things could happen. Although he had faith in Ren killing all those demons, from his experience, Kevin felt that he needed to end this quickly. 

Thinking thus far, Kevin fell into deep thought as he couldn't help but think to himself.

'...should I end this with overdrive?' 

If he used overdrive he could end this fight in an instant, but there was a major flaw with that skill...

Right after he activated that skill, depending on how long he used it for, Kevin would find himself unable to move for the next five minutes.

If he couldn't kill the demon leader during the time his overdrive was on, Kevin would be doomed. This was a really risky decision...

"Should I or should I not?" 

Staring at the demon leader who was struggling under his barrage of attacks, Kevin grit his teeth and decided to go all in. He couldn't afford to fight for that long. The faster he killed his enemy, the better. 

...Moreover, he was confident he could win this. 

"Over—" 

However, midway through activating overdrive, Kevin suddenly felt a gush of wind brush past his skin as subsequently after, the world around him turned white. 

-Click! 

As Kevin's vision was impaired due to the world turning white, his ears managed to pick up a subtle metallic clicking sound. 

-Spurt!

"Huh?" 

Thereafter, a second after Kevin heard the clicking sound, Kevin felt his sword stab something. The tip of his sword soon became heavier. 

Not long after he felt that sensation, the world around him regained its normal color and what Kevin saw made him freeze on the spot. 

The demon leader's body impaled on his sword...

However, that was not the reason he was shocked.

No. 

Staring at the lifeless corpse of the demon leader impaled on his sword, Kevin's sight was directed towards the top of his forehead where a small yet deep hole appeared. 

"W-what?" 

Turning his head to the right, he once again froze on the spot. 

Ten meters away from him, with his back turned on him and his hand on the grip of his sword, Ren's figured appeared.

"Huuu..." 

Exhaling turbid air from his mouth, Ren slowly turned his head and indifferently glanced at Kevin. 

"Take care of the other demons" 

"What?" 

Snapping out of his daze, turning his head around, Kevin soon spotted six demons frantically rushing in his direction. 

-Thud

Quickly removing his sword from the demon leader's body, Kevin took a stance as a loud thud resounded beneath his feet. 

Staring at Ren's indifferent figure, Kevin couldn't help but recall the time back in Hollberg.

...those eyes. 

Those were the same eyes that he had back when he held Jin by the throat. The eyes of total indifference and disregard. 

Staring at Ren, Kevin couldn't help but think. 

'...was this the real him?'

However, snapping himself out of his thoughts, Kevin looked at Ren and shouted 

"Ren, tell me what's going on...and what in the world happened?" 

Ignoring Kevin, taking out a red book, Ren opened the book and slowly read the contents.

-Flip! -Flip! 

As he read the book, his eyes moved left and right as he quickly flipped through the pages. As he read, no emotion appeared on his face. However, pausing on a certain page, a slight frown appeared on Ren's face. 

-Plack! 

Closing down the book, emotionlessly looking at Kevin who was about to engage against the six demons, Ren opened his mouth and said

"Stay here and deal with the rest, I have something to do" 

Quickly turning his head towards Ren, Kevin couldn't help but look at him as he shouted 

"What? Something to do? What-khhh" 

Stopping mid-sentence, Kevin found the demons assaulting him from all sides. Seeing this, Ren slowly walked away. 

"Hey, tell me!" 

"I'll be back shortly"