The murmurs and constant whispers continued to resound. All the while, Jenna scooted a little closer to me, feeling afraid. This was the type of reaction she was likely expecting back when she met the demons.

But now, this was the reaction she was getting from the humans. It was a normal reaction, given everything that happened, so I don’t blame them.

Still...

"We mean you no harm," I said, deepening my voice.

The guards glanced at me, startled by my lack of presence. They had come to their own assumption, and that assumption was that I was so strong that they couldn’t even feel my presence.

And for that reason alone, they decided to play it safe. They didn’t come close enough to see my altered appearance. But to tease them a little, I decided to make my crimson horns very visible. If anything, I forced them to curl out more, since I realized I could control them however I wanted.

And that was enough for everyone around Jenna and me to freeze before bursting into panic.

"I-It’s a Demon King!"

"What are you talking about!? This one looks much stronger than a Demon King!"

"A-A Demon Emperor...?"

Safe to say, after the final words were spoken, the guards who weren’t that brave immediately ran away. It was surprising how big of pussies these guys were, but I didn’t really judge them.

I would probably run away too if it meant keeping my life intact.

But had I actually been a Demon Emperor, these guys wouldn’t have been able to take a single breath before they’d all be reduced to ashes.

Chuckling to myself at their performance, I glanced over at Jenna.

"Don’t worry, once they’re done scrambling around, we’ll mess with them a little. Also, I know you know me as Mikael, so just call me Amon instead."

"Amon..." Jenna repeated, then nodded. "I understand. Then, can I trust you to have my back?"

"Of course—"

Before I could even finish my words, I suddenly felt my weight increase by several thousand times. Jenna was obviously affected too, but I had managed to react in time, cancelling the gravity effect on her.

As for myself, moving around while affected by such a weight was good practice. Very good practice.

More importantly, when I glanced atop the wall, I spotted Kevin. He seemed a lot different than before, in the sense that all of his scars were gone. For a moment, I thought he had also managed to mature a little, but from how he was staring at me with arrogance, I knew he still couldn’t figure out the difference in our power.

It was a pity, but he was the protagonist. Someday, somehow, he’d become valuable enough to actually make a difference. But until then, I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Before Kevin could even blink, his bones cracked as he began to suddenly hurtle through the steel wall, nearly passing out from how much pain he was in.

By the time he was at the very bottom of the wall, alongside a massive chunk of the wall stuck inside his abdomen, he was staring at me in disbelief. Regardless of his injuries though, he quickly composed himself and began moving away all of the steel from his body, trying to allow natural regeneration to happen.

However, I wasn’t done teasing him. With another thought, I crashed down several thousand tons worth of telekinetic energy on him, practically turning every single bone he had into dust as a small crater began to form underneath him.

Once I no longer felt any resistance from him, I halted. I gave him a quick check, and after realizing that he was still alive, I let out a chuckle. The guards had long since run away, realizing that I had practically manhandled one of their strongest warriors.

It was a real shame, but on the bright side, I managed to find out that Kevin had somehow reached Grade 40 already. Whatever Clementine did, it was effective.

And speaking of Clementine, I felt like she was slowly starting to make her way here. I tapped Jenna on the shoulder and reinforced her body slightly, on the off chance that Clementine decided to just drop a nuke on the two of us.

But even though Clementine and Kevin were here, I couldn’t sense Melina or Isabelle anywhere. They were definitely not dead. Maybe they had somehow defected? Maybe they hated the way Clementine did things?

Well...

When I spotted Clementine’s beautiful figure emerge from the gate, I knew that if I wanted to know more, I’d have to ask her.

Still, despite her being beautiful, she seemed especially cold. She glanced down at the ruined Kevin, and then glanced back up at me, her expression turning even colder.

"To what do I owe this visit?" she asked.

She didn’t recognize me.

Heh. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"I was just curious whether you humans would like to form a truce or not. You see, my apprentice and I were just traveling and came across this tree, where..."

I stopped talking, realizing that Clementine had begun to smile slightly. It was a warm smile, a relieved smile, and more importantly, it was a smile that I had been longing to see.

"Sorry for the trouble," I apologized in my normal voice.

Her smile widened slightly. "Don’t be. He needed a beating. It’s not like I can’t heal him right up. You can also give him some of your blood. That might be enough to heal him."

I shrugged, holding back the urge to just run in there and kiss her. "Well... my blood might not be that powerful. I will try though. But for starters, meet Jenna. She’s Vincent’s kid."

Clementine glanced over at Jenna and gave her a warm nod. She had remembered Jenna, since I had told her plenty about her in the past, including the fact that she was a natural-born demon.

But despite that, Clementine’s warmth didn’t discriminate.

"Come inside the city. I’ll draw you both a bath."