'As much as you think I didn't, I've always been proud of what you've achieved… even when it looked like I didn't care.'

There was truth in the words he said to her. It may not have looked like it, but he had always been proud of what she had achieved.

He may not have shown it because of his circumstances, but he was proud. He had always been.

The feeling only grew stronger when he could feel himself again. He couldn't have been more pleased with her accomplishments, and the fact that she handled everything on her own made him even prouder.

He was glad she was doing well.

Well… for the most part.

He knew that he couldn't go back in time and undo the harm that his neglect had caused her.

When he thought about her past and how his actions had harmed her, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt wash over him. She had been through a lot in her life.

Especially for someone her age. Growing up without a family… she must've truly been lonely.

He had never sought forgiveness or expected to receive it.

It stung, and now that he knew how to feel emotions again, his life was filled with nothing but pain.

Strangely enough, he didn't hate it.

Compared to the times when he felt nothing but numbness, this was much better.

He at least… felt something.

It hurt, but at the same time, he felt better than ever. His mind had never been clearer, and staring at the Prince before him, he had already made up his mind.

When he looked down, he could still see her looking up at him from below, and he found himself smiling.

'Yeah… this is how it should be.'

"Hm? Aren't you the human from before? You didn't run away?"

The Prince seemed rather surprised by his sudden appearance. Gervis too, but for another reason.

"You… what are you doing?"

The way Gervis looked at him changed, but Octavious paid him no mind and continued to gaze at Prince Adrian.

"I would like to make a contract with you."

The glare that Gervis was casting became even more intense, but the Prince stopped him from saying anything by waving his hand at him and smacking him toward the ground.

Bang—!

He then proceeded to look at Octavious.

"So you'd like to form a contract with me, huh?"

Prince Adrian studied Octavious from top to bottom. At first glance, he wasn't too bad. A tad bit worse than the dwarf, but overall, he wasn't too bad.

To have reached his rank while being a human was a testament to his talent and his gaze… he quite liked it.

Prince Andrian extended his hand, where a contract appeared.

"Very well, since you're interested in signing a contract, I won't stop you."

He offered it without much thought. He was good enough to join his side.

"Thank you."

Octavious nodded his head, staring at the contract in front of him.

"D… don't you dare."

From the side, he could hear Gervis's muffled words, but he paid no attention to them and grabbed the contract in front of him.

WOOOM—! It erupted with demonic energy as soon as his hand touched it, engulfing him from head to toe.

Despite the fact that he had not yet signed the contract, he was already able to sense the force that emanated from it. It was very powerful. More powerful than he could have ever conceived of being.

"Go on, sign it."

The Prince's words echoed close to him, sounding like soft whispers and tempting him even further.

Octavious fixed his eyes on the contract in front of him for a moment before putting it down and turning his attention to Prince Adrian.

He smiled softly at him.

Riiiiip!

And with one swift movement, he tore the contract in half, completely freezing the atmosphere.

The Prince's expression froze with the atmosphere, and he looked at Octavious in utter bafflement.

That was when Octavious chose to speak.

"I didn't say I wanted to sign the contract because I wanted to sign the contract. I only said it because I wanted to get close enough to you to do this…"

Octavious extended his hand and revealed a white orb. Golden runes emanated from the orb as they rotated like satellites around it in a clockwise motion.

"Wait… that power…"

The Prince's expression changed drastically the moment the orb appeared, and Octavious smiled.

"Yes. It's exactly what you think it is."

Crack!

After he shattered the orb that he was holding in his hand, the entire world became white, and golden runes flooded their surroundings, completely enveloping the Prince in their entirety.

"Wait! How is this possible!?"

Although the Prince attempted to put up a fight as his own golden runes emerged from his body, his efforts were fruitless. The golden runes whirled around him at a speed that was even greater than the one he was starting to produce, and they wrapped themselves tightly all over his body.

"How da…mhm…mhhhh."

His entire figure froze on the spot, and the surroundings turned quiet from that point on. The golden runes kept wrapping and circling around his body, stopping him from doing anything.

Still, if one paid close attention, the golden runes around his body dimmed considerably with each passing second.

It was clear that even though the Prince was trapped, his predicament would not last for very long.

"Huu."

As soon as Octavious used the orb, his entire body began to shrink, and he had a hard time maintaining his balance.

From a man who was in the prime of his life, he slowly turned into a frail and old man. Such was the consequence of using the laws that didn't belong to you.

But that didn't matter to Octavious as he weakly moved toward the Prince. He weakly placed his hand over the Prince's shoulder and looked down.

That was when his gaze paused on a certain girl who was looking back at him.

He smiled at her.

'This is how it should be.'

He had been a terrible father then, and a terrible father now. Perhaps he was never meant to be a father to begin with.

Or perhaps he just wasn't ready to be one.

Still.

Staring at Melissa for one last time. Octavious really did see her figure overlap with someone he used to know, and something trickled down the side of his cheek.

'They… truly are alike…'

It was too bad Melissa had never gotten to meet her. His vision warped with images of them as a happy family. As a family that they never were, and the thought ached him even more.

Cr… Crack!

Octavious was deep in thought when he was startled out of his musings by a loud cracking sound. When he looked up, he saw that the golden runes that had encircled the Prince were beginning to disintegrate, which meant that the Prince would soon be free once more.

Realizing that he didn't have much time left, he looked at Melissa once more, engraving her face into his mind before silently nodding at her.

"Goodbye."

'I love you.'

He was only able to utter the first word. He found himself unable to say the last three. He didn't feel like he had the right to say such words to her, and shortly after that, the world turned completely dark.

Not before hearing the sound of his own body exploding.

BOOOOOOOOOOM—!

***

[Earth]

"Kill!"

"Charge out and kill all those bastards!"

As the demons charged out from the pocket spaces that remained over the broken pillars, the sky darkened, and a sound like thunder rumbled through the air.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

"Arkgh!"

"Akh!"

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Suddenly, a shower of arrows began to rain down from the skies, striking the demonic horde with deadly precision. Each arrow contained a certain golden rune, and their tips glimmered with an otherworldly light.

The demons howled in fury as they were struck down one by one, but their numbers seemed endless.

Even as the arrows continued to rain down upon them, the demons fought on, driven by their large numbers and their hunger for victory.

The members of the alliance who were standing on the ground looked up in awe and wonder at the incredible scene that was playing out in front of their eyes.

When they saw how the arrows were bending away from them, they realized that they didn't have to worry about getting hit by them as they charged forward in the battle.

"Charge!"

"Attack the demons!"

All of this unfolded right before my very eyes as I turned to look at Amanda next to me. Her complexion was extremely pale, and sweat trickled down her forehead.

"Are you alright?"

"No…"

Amanda shook her head at my question. She began to show signs of aging right in front of my very eyes not long after that, but as soon as I pressed my hand against her shoulder, she was able to quickly return to her normal self.

Such was the toll that the laws took on the human body.

Coating her body with the laws, her complexion gradually returned to normal.

"What… what was that power?"

Amanda wondered, looking at me from the side. I was just about to answer her when I suddenly felt something and turned to look toward a distant pillar.

A faint projection appeared in front of me. It was Soul Linkage, and there I was able to get an idea of what had happened in that Pillar.

'He really… did it, huh?'

I closed my eyes for a moment.

With Melissa being one of the people I put the link on, I knew exactly why he did what he did. It was because she was there.

I was somewhat prepared for what was to come because... I was the one who gave him a small portion of the laws.

It was back during the time when everyone was about to migrate to Immorra, and he came to me asking for them.

I knew in that instant what exactly he was planning… but I didn't stop him.

The decision he took was one he had taken long before this day, and had only now put into action.

I didn't really know how to feel at the moment.

"What happened?"

"It's… well, I have to go."

The opportunity presented itself, and I knew that I had to move.

I opened my eyes again and looked at Amanda. When I looked at her, I had a sudden thought, and I found myself frowning at the thought.

It was a dangerous idea, but what if…?