-Ding!

As the doors of the elevator opened up revealing a quiet hall where a red rug ran all the way down towards the other end of the hall, I stepped out of the elevator and turned right.

I didn't have much time.

Right when I entered the elevator, I got a message from Smallsnake informing me of something happening on Matthew's floor.

Therefore, knowing this, I knew I had a time frame of five minutes to operate before the security guards from the hotel arrived before Matthew's room.

Currently, as I was walking down the corridor that led to Matthew's room, I was neither running nor looking anxious. I was also not wearing a mask to hide my identity despite the fact that cameras were installed in the halls.

The reason for this was simple.

I had booked a room on this floor.

There was no need for me to sneak in or cover up my identity with a mask.

I had a solid alibi.

The plan was to pretend to pass by Matthew's room and suddenly enter the room with the excuse of hearing that someone was in 'distress'.

Once I entered the room and found Matthew and the demon he was contracted with, I would kill them both and once the security guards from the hotel came, I would pin the blame on the demon for killing Matthew as both parties fought with their life on the line and killed each other.

With demonic energy lingering amongst both parties and the fact that the demon Matthew was contracted with was noticeably injured, my excuse would easily be bought. Moreover, with the fact that I was still 16 years old and publicly my rank was still <F> rank, I wouldn't be linked to this case.

Although I would be taken into question as a result of this incident, that was as far as they could legally go as I would make sure to leave no trace of what I had done behind.

In addition to that, even if I used the Keiki style, no one would link it back to me as no one knew that I practiced that sword art.

I had everything thoroughly planned.

I was in control.

-Clank!

Arriving before the door of Matthew's room, glancing at the cameras of the building from the corner of my eyes, I pretended to be extremely surprised as I moved towards the door and slowly opened it.

As I opened the door and took a step in, my body froze.

"What the..."

Staring at the room before me, the sight that I had expected to see was nowhere in sight as black blood dyed the white carpet of the room floor. In the corner of the room stood a black corpse that had shrunk significantly.

"the demon?"

Dead?

What was going on?

How was the demon that was supposed to be under contract with Matthew already dead?

Confused and looking up, my sight instantly paused towards a certain individual who was standing before the edge of the room where the large glass window of the room used to stand. Looking towards my direction as a peaceful smile appeared on his face, Mathew greeted me.

"It's been a while, Ren..."

Frowning, my eyes grew cold.

"Matthew, was this your doing?"

Still smiling, Matthew shrugged his shoulders.

"Mhm, I'm not too sure myself, it all feels like a blur if I have to be honest. In one moment I was relaxing in my room when suddenly Viscount Avelon, the demon I was contracted with, came into my room saying things like the curse has been broken what have you done and blah, blah, blah"

Staring at Matthew who was standing at the edge of the apartment, ignoring what he was saying, I placed my hand on the sheath of my sword as a white hue shrouded my body.

I had to end this quickly.

There was no need to waste time with useless monologies.

I was here to kill him and kill him I shall.

...prior to entering the room, I had thought that everything would've gone as I had plannedbut never in my wildest dreams did I expect such a scene to greet me.

The demon was dead whilst Matthew was still alive.

Just what had happened?

Gritting my teeth, I removed all unnecessary thoughts that were circulating inside of my mind as I prepared to kill Matthew right here and now.

Right now my priority was to quickly kill Matthew and set up the scenario that I had previously envisioned.

That was my priority.

Seeing the white hue shrouding my body, raising his hands upwards Matthew smiled as he took a step back towards the nothingness that stood behind the window.

Opening my eyes wide, I shouted.

"Hey what are you doing!?"

Winking at me, Matthew's body soon leaned backward as he fell back first towards the ground.

Right before his body fell, Matthew's mouth worded.

"I'll see you soon, Ren"

-Swooosh!

Blankly staring at the area Matthew used to be standing, quickly regaining myself from the stupor, I immediately rushed towards the edge of the apartment and looked down towards the outside of the window.

...did Matthew just kill himself?

No!

This could not happen!

The cameras already knew that I had entered the room therefore if they managed to identify that Matthew had killed himself after I had entered the room, things would become extremely troublesome for me.

As I looked towards the bottom floor from where I was standing, to my shock, I couldn't find any trace of Matthew.

"Huh, nothing?"

-Bang!

Just as I was staring towards the bottom of the building to see if Matthew's body was anywhere near in sight, suddenly, a large sound come from the front of the apartment as five huge bodyguards came into the room and glared at me.

With an overbearing pressure emanating from each of the guard's bodies, they shouted.

"Security, whoever you are surrender now!"

Staring at the guards before me, covering my face with my hand, I clenched his teeth and cursed out loud.

"...fuck"

I've been had.

-Tap! Tap! Tap!

Sitting inside of a white room with a large black mirror by the side of the wall, I tapped on the large metallic table before me.

Currently, my face was incomparably dark as I inwardly beat myself up.

everything had gone to shit.

The plan that I had thought was perfect failed miserably and I was currently being confined inside of a remote facility owned by the central government awaiting questioning.

Outside of the building reporters were flocking the area asking for questions.

News of what had happened at the hotel quickly made headlines as my face was all over the news.

To make matters worse, the fact that I was the only one in the room with the corpse of a demon did not go unnoticed.

Rumors about the fact that I had apparently 'killed' or aided in the killing of a Viscount ranked demon spread throughout the whole of Ashton city.

To make matters worse, Matthew who had disappeared the following night, showed up and endlessly praised me for saving his life by saying things like 'had it not been for him I would've never been able to escape' 'He is the one that killed the demon, I saw it firsthand'

-Bang!

"Damn it!"

Punching the metal table before me, I couldn't help but curse out loud.

I've been had good.

Just when I thought that everything was going to go as I had envisioned, I suddenly found everything crashing down on me.

All because of one element that I did not take into account.

Clenching my jaw, I angrily spat under my breath.

"Everblood"

I already had my suspicions before with the Angelica accident, but I now knew that Everblood was the one responsible for this accident and everything that had happened before.

If before I was only half certain, I was now sure.

With Angelica and the demon that Matthew was contracted with out of the picture, the only one that could be responsible for all of this was Everblood.

There could be no one else.

...even if he hid it from me and refused to show himself, I was sure it was him.

There was no way it was anyone else. It could only be him!

To make matters worse, although Smallsnake and Leopold were keeping an eye on everything, they would've never been able to spot him.

He was a baron-ranked demon after all. With his cloaking technique, unless someone who was of a similar rank was present, no one would've been able to see him.

Especially since Smallsnake was weak and Leopold was only D ranked.

-Clank!

Snapping me out of my thoughts, a fairly beautiful lady wearing a formal suit with a grey skirt and black leggings walked into the room. Wearing a pair of squared glasses and with her hair tied in a bun, the lady calmly walked towards the seat opposite to me and sat down.

Taking out a tablet, the lady quickly scrolled through it and proceeded to look at me. Fixing her glasses, she introduced herself.

"Hello, nice to meet you, Mr. Dover, my name is Irene Bennoit, an executive agent and the person in charge of questioning you. Do you have any questions?"

Nodding my head, I asked.

"Do I have the right to remain silent?"

Raising her brow, Irene nodded her head.

"Yes you do"

"Okay"

Staring at me from beneath her glasses, looking back at her tablet, Irene nodded her head and proceeded to say.

"Alright, let's start with the interview"

Pausing for a second as she recalled something, Irene's tone became incomparably serious as she said.

"Ah, before we start the interview I would like to strictly warn you, if there is any falsehood in your answers, you will be immediately be charged with perjury. My abilities allow me to instantly understand if someone is telling the truth or if they are lying...therefore, if you choose to answer you better answer with the truth and the truth only, Understood?"

Nodding my head I curtly replied.

"Yes"

"Okay, please state your name"

""

I did not respond.

Since I had the right to remain silent, I rightfully refused to speak.

Especially since I had a lot of things to hide.

"Please state your name"

Seeing that I did not respond, Irene lifted her glasses up with her finger as she repeated.

""

Once again I did not respond.

"Okay"

Nodding her head and understanding that I was not responding, Irene tapped on her tablet and proceeded to ask even more questions.

"When were you born?"

""

"According to the data, your talent rank seems to be D is that correct?"

""

"According to the data, it seems that your current rank is F+ is that correct?"

""

"Did you participate in the killing of the demon inside of the room?"

Indifferently staring at her, I did not respond again.

With me using the cure to directly her the demon, I naturally played a role in his death.

If I said no, Irene would immediately be able to tell that I was lying.

"Why were you at that hotel?"

Following that, Irene continued asking me questions to which I didn't respond. Given the fact that her abilities could detect between lies and truths, I knew that the less I talked the better it was for me.

"Thank you very much Mr. Dover"

After going through all of the questions, despite me not answering, Irene stood up and made her way towards the door. Glancing at me, she urged me to follow her.

"Mr. Dover, I would like for you to follow me"

Frowning, I asked.

"Where are we going?"

With her back facing my direction, Irene said.

"We're going to test your rank and your talent"

Opening my eyes slightly, I carefully asked.

"Do I have the right to refuse?"

Shaking her head, Irene opened the door of the room and calmly walked out. I followed after her as she said.

"No, you do not as this is information which will be used for your case...and so, because of this, you have no right to refuse"

Hearing her explanation, I proceeded to nod my head as my face became incomparably dark.

"Understood"

Following Irene out of the room, I clenched my fist tightly as I cursed inwardly.

shit.

Everything I tried so hard to hide was soon going to be exposed to the world.

Apart from the Keiki style, my talent and my rank were soon going to be made known to the world and the relatively peaceful life that I had been enjoying was no longer going to be the same.

"huuu"

Taking a deep breath as I closed my eyes, I tried to retain my composure as I slowly followed Irene towards a large room filled with strange equipment.

as I stepped into the room, I knew that from this day forth, I could no longer operate as I did before.

From this day forth my name would quickly spread throughout the whole human domain as my talent and strength would be laid bare before the world.

...I knew that there was no longer a chance to be passive anymore.