The Author's POV

Fwap—!

Tearing through the red clouds in the sky, a figure flew at high speed with a gentle flap of his wings.

In the course of his journey, he would repeatedly mumble two words.

"White Death…White Death…"

His face was strangely expressionless as he muttered those words.

"A white-haired human? What are the chances of me finding him…"

The figure flying in the sky was Duke Adramalech. The second Duke that overlooked the city of Morian. One of the largest cities in the Pride Clan's domain.

Currently, he was returning from a short trip near the outskirts of the Pride Clan's territory.

He was there to check the situation as a minor conflict arose during that time.

It wasn't a big conflict or anything like that. Nevertheless, that small conflict had enormous political implications.

This was simply because it allowed the participating clans to have a reasonable cause of conflict.

'It was an amusing sight to see…'

A smile spread across the Duke's face as he remembered the sight he had seen during his brief pause. Since the Pride clan had not been involved, all he had to do was enjoy the show that was unfolding before his eyes.

He certainly did. While he regretted having to return before the conflict ended, he nonetheless had to. It was revealed to him that there was something going on in Morian, and that he had to hurry back.

It was an emergency message, and therefore he wasn't aware of the detail. Nevertheless, since Duke Azenoch had still not contacted him, it meant that the situation wasn't that dire.

"I'm almost there."

Staring into the distance, he was soon able to see the outskirts of a large city. It was the city of Morian.

Keeping his wings extended, he slowly began to flap them, casting a shadow over the area below him.

Fwap—!

His body shot toward the city at tremendous speeds. In the midst of his actions, he had a sudden thought.

'...I haven't gotten a response from the spy I planted, did Azenoch figure something out?'

If that was the case, then things would become troublesome. Although they had been keeping their conflicts a secret, for him to suddenly kill his servant…

Halting his thoughts there, his face changed.

"Hm?"

With one more flap of his wings, his body picked up even more speed, and within a few seconds, he was already on the outskirts of the city.

As Duke Adramalech expanded his wings one more time and forced his body to halt mid-air, his gaze changed.

"What happened here? Why is the barrier activated?"

Slowly descending toward the ground, the Duke stared at the city encircled by a large purple barrier. The moment Duke Adramalech caught sight of the barrier, he knew that things were extremely serious.

Particularly since they were only activated in very dangerous situations. One that would even put Duke-ranked demons in trouble.

As he spotted the demon in the distance, Duke Adramalech appeared before him. Grabbing him by the shoulder, he asked.

"What's going on here?"

"H…h..his excellency!"

Duke Adramalech's sudden appearance startled the guard. Suddenly, his look was replaced with one of joy as he stared at the Duke.

"Your excellency! Thank god you're here! Thank god!"

'Since when has anyone been so happy to see me?'

They would usually either cower in fear or show a look of utmost respect. Throughout his life as a Duke, he had never witnessed such a reaction filled with joy.

'Just what is going on here?...Wait.'

The Duke's face contorted as he had a sudden thought. Demonic energy threatened to spill out from his body.

'...Don't tell me Azenoch has managed to force the Blood Prince into signing a contract with him.'

Duke Adramalech's face sank completely. The demons' next words, however, caused his face to freeze as he struggled to comprehend them.

"Duke Azenoch has died..."

"W.."

In an attempt to say something, he opened his mouth. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't find the right words to say.

The piece of news left him too confused to formulate a proper response.

But he wasn't a Duke for no reason.

Taking a moment to digest the information, he calmed himself and closed his eyes.

As he opened his eyes again and examined the barrier that was raised above the city, he concluded that the demon had been truthful.

'It looks like that bastard Azenoch has died for real. I can't even sense his presence.'

His face turned extremely solemn as demonic energy sprang out of his body. A while later, snapping his head in the direction of the demon, he coldly asked.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

"Yes, your excellency!"

After bowing down once, the demon began to recount everything that had happened. Especially about the man known as White Reaper. From how he became the overlord within a month to how the Duke suddenly agreed to fight him, and everything that happened in between...

The demon left nothing.

The more Duke Adramalech listened, the weirder his face became.

'How did something like this happen within such a short period of time that I was gone...'

"The fight lasted for a total of—"

"Stop for a moment."

In the midst of the demon's speech, he quickly cut him off. He then proceeded to pinch the middle of his brows.

"Do you mean to tell me that while I wasn't here, a new Overlord rose to power and managed to kill Azenoch?"

Taking a look at the Duke, the demon opened his mouth and nodded.

"That's exactly it, your excellency."

"Mhh…"

As his head snapped toward the arena in the distance, the Duke's brows tightened even more. In an attempt to sense a presence, he closed his eyes, but it proved fruitless as he didn't seem to be able to sense anyone.

Anyone of the Duke level.

'Did he perhaps escape?'

He quickly shook his head.

While his strength made it possible, the barrier surrounding the city would've been destroyed if he had chosen to escape. Accordingly, the Overlord appeared to still be in the city.

Taking a glance at the demon beside him, he expanded his wings. It was only a matter of time before his figure vanished from the spot as a result of his movements.

His destination.

The arena.

***

'What are you doing?'

While my body was still under his control, I watched as he walked around the room. Over time, I became increasingly irritated.

'Also, when am I going to get my body back?'

"Not yet."

'...What do you mean not yet?'

My heart sank.

As my other self casually placed his hand on the desk, he looked around. There was something he seemed to be looking for. Eventually, he replied.

"You can take control of the body anytime you want?"

'I can?'

"Yes."

He responded while still looking around the desk. His eyes soon paused on one of the drawers of the desk.

"...But you would end up suffering the after-effects of using the skill."

'After effects?'

There were after-effects of using the skill?

"You want to try them?"

My lips suddenly pulled into a thin smile. Before I could reply, my vision distorted slightly, and I found myself back in my own body. Or rather, I could now control it.

Clenching and unclenching my fist, I glanced around the place.

"...I don't feel anything."

Lowering my gaze to stare at my hands, and trying to feel every part of my body, I cocked my head a little.

"Is there really a—!"

Not even halfway through my sentence, I found my mouth frozen on the spot.

Pain.

That was the only thing that I could feel, as it came radiating in crashing waves that threaten to drown me with every breath.

Sometimes there was something else, it was a sharper more inexplicable pain, but it never lasted long before the other pain returned and everything went black.

"Haa..."

"Wake up."

I didn't know how long had passed, but by the time my consciousness returned, the pain had already left and my mouth opened to release a single breath.

It was then that my mouth opened by itself.

"So? ...Do you think you can withstand the pain?"

Pondering over my own thoughts, I didn't answer immediately. It was only after half a minute passed that I finally asked.

'...Do you not feel any pain?'

The pain that I had experienced.

I couldn't quite describe it in words. It was something that I had never experienced before.

Recalling all the types of pain that I had been through in the past, they seemed to be minimal to what I had just experienced.

It was a far more concentrated and radiating pain than the one that I had experienced when I broke the terms of the mana contract.

"Pain?"

Tilting my body slightly, he pulled on one of the drawers. In the meantime, his lips pulled into a soft smile.

"Every second, minute, and hour that I exist I go through a pain that is far worse than that. Do you think that something like this fazes me?"

Hearing his words, I didn't know what to say.

Flashbacks of the words he said in the past replayed inside of my mind. During the time when I saw my parents die before me in the illusion.

That time.

He had said something similar before.

In the end, I couldn't help but find myself asking.

'...Just what sort of past did you have?"

Sadly, he didn't seem to be keen on answering as he promptly ignored my words and continued to look through the drawer.

It was only after a while that he found a small black box about half the size of my hand. Grasping the box, my lips curled.

Casually tossing it in the air, before I could ask him what it was that I was holding, my mouth opened.

"This over here is the key to the arena treasury."

If I still had control over my body, my eyes would've opened up. It would've then been followed by a smile.

'...I'm already liking where this is going.'

"Don't rejoice too early."

Putting the box away, he slowly walked toward the door of the office.

"I can only take a few things. If we're planning on negotiating with the other Duke, we can't take too much..."

'Well, obviously.'

This was common sense.

If we took too much, then the Duke would just not bother negotiating with us, and considering that the skill was on cool down, we really couldn't afford to do this.

We couldn't be too greedy.

Greed was the best recipe for disaster.

Clank—!

Grasping the handle of the door, my arm pulled back and the door opened. Following this, I slowly walked out of Duke Azenoch's office.

"...Time to collect our rewards."

*

The location of the treasury wasn't that far. It was about a couple of minutes' walk from the Duke's office.

"Where is the treasury?"

"O...over there!"

Most comforting about the journey was the fact that the demons still inside the arena would shake and tremble whenever I walked, well, my other self. To add to that, they were also kind enough to tell us where exactly the treasury was.

"Looks like we're here."

Walking for a further couple of minutes and turning a couple of corridors, my feet soon came to a stop in front of a large metallic door.

At the moment, the place was empty as no guards stood in front of the door. Was it perhaps because of what happened or because this was the norm, I didn't know?

Regardless, since it worked in my favor, all I could do was secretly express my gratitude.

'Thank you.'

"Shut up."

Scanning the door, my eyes soon paused on a certain squared shape indentation. Softly smiling, and taking a couple of steps, my other self took out the small cube from before and placed it in the socket.

Rumble—!

Following his simple movement, a rumbling sound echoed out and the door slowly started to open.