The Author's POV



Rumble—! Rumble—!

Everything started to crumble the moment Prince Letvia was defeated. The scene didn't go unnoticed by those beneath, as almost everyone was able to catch a glimpse of what had happened.

"D..did we…"

"The Prince?"

It had all happened so fast that the demons beneath were unable to understand what had happened completely.

"You traitor!"

A scream suddenly spread across the sky. 

"Bastard!"

"How dare you betray our race!"

It was only after they heard an enraged shout in the air that they snapped out of it and focused their attention on a particular demon with long pink hair.

It was none other than Prince Valling who took the scorn and hatred of the demons with a calm expression. Such expressions were the norm for him. 

There wasn't much that could unsettle someone like him. 

Beside him was the same hazy figure that killed Prince Letvia.

Underneath, on the main floating island, Jin tore his gaze away from Ren and looked to his right, where a demoness he was all too familiar with appeared. 

She was looking at the scene above with an incomparably serious expression.

"Are you sure about your decision?"

"Mhm."

Priscilla nodded her head, tearing her gaze away from the scene and shifting her attention to Jin.

"It certainly wasn't easy, but…"

A bitter smile spread across her features.

"…We didn't have much of a choice." 

Thinking back at what had happened a while ago, she could only bitterly shake her head. It truly was… not much of a choice from their end.

Aside from what had happened with them in Ka Mankhut, their positions were awfully obvious within the Sloth clan, and while they didn't dislike their position, they still wanted more.

They were ambitious and had always dreamed of reaching a higher position.

Since a chance presented itself, they chose to take it.

They were not so foolish as to take the risk without first having some evidence to show them that it was a risk that would be worth taking.

It was for this very reason that they had demanded that the human show proof before coming to the decision to join his side.

The two cores belonging to the Pillar Masters… That was enough proof for them to take the gamble and join his side.

'Now then…'

She secretly sighed to herself, staring once again at the shadowy figure in the sky.

'…We've placed our bets. We can now only hope that our gamble pays off.'

"You've made a good choice."

A voice brought Priscilla out of her thoughts, and when she turned her head, her gaze fell on two emerald coloured eyes.

"Oh? Is this your way of comforting me?"

"No? Why would I?"

Jin took a step back, seemingly almost disgusted by her comment. For a moment, Priscilla thought about all sorts of things, many of which weren't very nice, but she managed to hold herself back.

'He's my supplier of sticks… I can't ruin our relationship just yet…'

So long as she managed to get those sticks…

"On the premise that we're allies, I won't do anything to you, but…"

Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she extended her hand and opened up her palm. Moving her fingers, she nudged at him.

"…"

Staring at her hand, Jin stood there blankly, unable to find the right words to say. He was utterly speechless.

'Has she become an addict?'

It seemed to be the case.

'Is it the nicotine? Is that what it is?'

Frowning, all sorts of thoughts started to cross Jin's mind, and silence reigned over the area they were in.

Perhaps...

Nicotine was the key to defeating all of the demons. 

Various thoughts crossed Jin's mind as plans started to formulate in his mind. 

'Just where am I going to get all that nicotine from?' 

Rumbe—! Rumble—!

His thoughts, however, were broken by the sudden shaking of the pillar as the world around them started to crumble. As the floating islands around them began to collapse, water began to seep into the area beneath them.

The ground beneath them began to fracture, and the island began to rock back and forth in the space all around them.

"What's happening?"

"What's going on?"

Jin and Priscilla were both confused and when they looked up, they were shocked to see massive cracks forming all over the cosmic skies of the world.

C..Crack…!

Behind the cracks, light filtered through.

Once the cracks became larger, an azure coloured sky became more visible to the two of them, and soon, everything came crashing down at once.

Crash—!

After hearing a sound that was reminiscent of a glass breaking, the world around them began to disintegrate, and they saw only white.

Their bodies, which were standing on the island, suddenly lightened, and the two of them felt their bodies disappear into thin air.

While they weren't completely aware of what was going on, if there was one thing they understood, it was that the Pillar of Sloth had crumbled.

***

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The world around me crumbled and returned to how it was supposed to be. Clouds littered the sky, and light filtered through from the sun in the sky.

"What do we do now?"

It was Amanda's voice that brought me out of my thoughts, and I pondered for a moment before shifting my focus toward the nearest pillar.

"To the next Pillar."

"Just like that?"

"Is there anything else that we need to do?"

I only had one goal.

Eliminate all of the pillars and absorb all of the Akashic Laws from the demons. It wasn't an easy task, but having already dealt with three of the Pillars, things were starting to become easier.

Especially since my strength was increasing.

"What about those that came out from the Pillar?"

Amanda drew my attention to the ground, and when I turned to look, I saw a number of residual pocket dimensions from which people emerged.

As time went on, more and more people emerged into the open, and before long, the entire region was teeming with demonic beings as well as people belonging to the four races.

Thankfully, at the moment, it was just the two of us outside. Prince Valling and the other demons weren't out, but I knew that they'd be out soon enough.

"Hmmm."

Observing those that were coming out, I turned to look toward my left, and it was then that I noticed that there were several fights ongoing in the distance. 

'Is this from the other Pillars?'

Indeed, if I thought about it, apart from killing the leaders, I hadn't dealt with the remaining demons. It wasn't that I didn't want to, but I had no time for them. Such a thing was… troublesome.

"Oh wait."

It was at that moment that I realized something and turned my head to look at Amanda. She looked back at me, and I nodded my head.

"That might work."

"What might work?"

"Here."

I didn't answer her and extended my hand toward her.

Opening up my palm, I focused on the laws within my body and closed my eyes. Visualizing an image inside of my mind, I opened my eyes again and gathered all of the energy toward my palm, where slowly an orb floated.

"What's this?"

"Just watch."

As I kept my attention fixed on the orb I held in my hand, within a very short period of time, its form began to shift and change. My body ached and flickered at the fact that I was using the laws, but I endured the pain and continued to channel it.

Eventually, the orb extended into a thin line of moderate thickness.

"This is…"

Amanda seemed to finally be getting an idea of what I was making as her eyes opened wide, and I clenched my fist.

"D,done."

I managed to mutter through my clenched teeth, bringing my hand toward her and passing over a small, translucent white arrow.

"Wha—?"

"Take it."

"B—"

"Just take it."

Amanda reached out with her hand, and the arrow moved over to her hand and floated on top of it. Her face lit up as a result of the faint glow coming from the arrow in her hand. I would've smiled had it been before, but I was in no mood to smile and nudged her with my head toward the demons in the distance.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Ah, okay."

Getting the hint, Amanda's face turned serious, and she brought her bow out.

"How many can you hit?"

"I'll try to get as many as I can."

"Mhm. Just shoot the arrow, and let's leave after that. For those that survive, I'm sure our allies can deal with them."

The sad reality was that I couldn't save everyone. I could only do my best to help them as much as I could, and this was part of that help.

Whether they lived or died… It was something that wasn't within my immediate concern at the moment.

Perhaps it would've been previously, but after what I saw…

I no longer cared as much.

What mattered at the moment was victory.

Creaaak!

Amanda's back slowly arched as she placed the arrow on the string, and as she did so, a tremendous amount of power began to radiate from her body.

Her sudden burst of power attracted the attention of the demons that were coming out from below, but it was too late.

Right when the string of her bow touched the corner of her mouth, Amanda let go of the string, and the arrow disappeared from the bow.

Xiu!

The sky above tore, and all of a sudden, the surroundings turned quiet.

When I turned my head to look around me, I was met with over a dozen demons. They had probably just noticed us after coming out of the pocket dimension, and all of them were of the Prince and Duke rank.

The power they radiated was extremely powerful, but…

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

It suddenly started to rain.