Let’s go back in time a little bit.

Towards the time when I was trying to give a brief summary about my presentation.

Back when both Dean Walter and the Empress’ expressions simultaneously turned ugly the moment I said that I was going to tame the Devils.

“...Student Dowd.”

Dean Walter called out to me while tilting his head.

“What in the world are you talking about?”

Unlike usual, his voice lacked its eccentricities and he sounded slightly serious.

As if he genuinely failed to understand what I was talking about.

“...”

Ah…

So you’re breaking your character, now, hm?

It feels weird hearing you without your eighth-grade syndrome speech though.

“...Hm, well…”

To put it simply, my words sounded so ridiculous to him to the point that he reacted in such a way.

Even though it was clear that the club name was ‘Exorcism Club’, he probably didn’t expect me to bring up the topic of ‘Devils’ to his face without holding anything back.

And with me saying that I’d ‘tame’ them, it was no wonder that he found it difficult to comprehend.

“I meant it literally. The focus of the Exorcism Club is to explore the power of the Devils and to find out about various methods to ‘suppress’ them.”

“...”

Dean Walter quickly narrowed his eyes.

“...Explain.”

“I think it would be more convenient to show you directly instead of explaining it.”

As I said that, I took out the item I had prepared.

A wooden staff that looked like it was made of a sloppily shaped wood without even a slightest trace of polish.

After that, I pulled the hesitant Riru toward me by the wrist.

Though she was in such a state, the moment I cocked an eyebrow, as if asking her, ‘Are you going to back down now?’, she let out a deep sigh and resigned herself.

“...Fine.”

She said while taking another deep breath and raising her spirit.

Then, Blue Demonic Aura appeared on her body. Almost immediately, the Seal on my chest reacted as the air around it started to tremble slightly.

From their reaction, the two people in the audience seemed to know the true nature of this Aura.

“-!”

The Empress’ eyes instantly widened, while the Dean showed a bigger reaction than that.

He immediately jumped up from his seat while tightly grasping a Catalyst in his hand. In an instant, a wave of Divine Power was applied to the surroundings as several Wonders and Spells were simultaneously written.

It was clear that he had noticed that this was a ‘real’ Devil’s Demonic Aura. He was probably trying to suppress it with force.

Considering that the Blue Devil’s Authority was ‘Pulverization’, which could destroy everything that came in contact with it, I could understand why he reacted like that. The moment Riru went out of control even for a little, there was a high chance that the Empress might get hurt because of it. If that were to happen, chaos would definitely ensue.

That was why I immediately continued to the next step before the situation turned awry.

I ‘snatched’ the Demonic Aura that was starting to gather like clouds with my ‘bare hands’.

“...What…?”

As Dean Walter’s eyes widened in shock, I massaged the Blue Demonic Aura that I grabbed with my hands as if I was kneading some clay.

…After the Seal was enhanced, I can do something like this easily.

Considering how I’m able to touch the Devils who were materialized by their Fragments just fine, it goes without saying that I can easily handle their mere Aura with my bare hands without borrowing their power.

As I thought so, I ‘condensed’ the Blue Demonic Aura to the size of a baseball.

Eventually, I kneaded it into a more elaborate shape, even creating a handle to make it easier to hold while turning a part of it into a little pointy shape.

And then…

I placed it against the wooden staff that I had previously prepared.

Like I stated before, Blue Devil’s Demonic Aura would pulverize everything that came into contact with it.

But, by turning it into the shape of a ‘tool’ like this, it became possible for me to accurately polish the parts of the wood I wanted.

I trimmed the bottom part of the wood, making everything neat and smooth.

“...”

At that moment, I could hear Dean Walter’s hollow laughter.

Well, it was understandable. What I was doing was basically…

Using the Devil’s Demonic Aura, which would pulverize anything that came into contact with it…

To ‘polish’ the sloppily made staff.

As if I was trying to show that this power ‘wasn’t harmful’ at all.

“You see, the Devil’s Demonic Aura—”

I continued my speech, making sure that my gaze was locked with the Dean’s while continuing my work.

“Can be turned into something ‘harmless’ like this.”

As I said so…

I shifted my gaze to the Empress, who had her eyes wide open and let my gaze lingered on her for a while.

She stayed frozen, as if what I had just said greatly shocked her.

“...”

There’s a high chance that she doesn’t know yet that she’s a Devil’s Vessel.

But, I believe that she must’ve felt it instinctively…

That my words also have something to do with her.

I thought as such while continuing my words calmly.

“It’s quite different from the popular belief, right? After all, normally, people would think that they’re cursed just by coming into contact with the Devils.”

“...”

“The goal of the Exorcism Club is to study the Devil’s power so that we could take ‘advantage’ of it, just like this. After all, there is bound to be a way to handle every kind of power in this world.”

As I held out the neatly polished wooden stick to Walter, I let out a smirk.

Even though it came directly into contact with Demonic Aura, the staff wasn’t contaminated by it at all.

It was as if it was an ordinary item. No one would believe it that it was something that was influenced directly by the Devil’s power, the being whose existence itself was considered as the most vicious ill omen on the continent.

It could easily help enrich any ordinary old person’s life if they held it, even for a little.

“...Student Dowd.”

Dean Walter called out to me in a slightly deep voice.

“Are you aware of the sensitivity of the topic you’re talking about?”

“Of course.”

As I instantly gave out my reply, I stared at his eyes directly.

“This would be an interesting research topic, don’t you think?”

“...”

“I specifically picked this topic because I’m sure that this would interest you, Dean.”

No, I wasn’t joking when I said that.

Half of the reason why I presented this topic—the topic that could make the leaders of the continent go crazy—to this person specifically, was to ‘win him over’.

Dean Walter. The most powerful Priest I could encounter in Elfante save for the Pope.

He was also a researcher of Study of the Devils who boasted supreme authority of his generation.

This was the person who should become our club’s advisor. He would be of great help to what I was planning to do, that was why if I couldn’t share this much information with him, it would put me in a difficult position if anything.

“You just perfectly controlled the Devil’s Aura in ‘the way you wanted’. This is something unprecedented in history.”

Walter continued as his eyes shone sharply.

“...Which meant those who’d wish to turn it into a ‘weapon’ would be dying to target you. What you’re talking about now can cause a conflagration that could just burn down the entire continent to ashes.”

“Like I said, I’m aware of this, Dean.”

“...”

“If I may be honest, I think I’d need to do a presentation about it like this so that such a fight won’t occur.”

“...What?”

Walter asked dumbfoundedly. Instead of giving him an explanation though, I only smiled meaningfully.

Let’s just wait and see, okay?

You’ll understand what I’m talking about eventually.

“Of course if everything is revealed now, a true chaos would descend on the continent, so I wish that both the Headmistress and you, Dean, would adjust the information enough so that it could be presented to people outside.”

What I was trying to tell him was basically to manipulate the information, but I didn’t feel a shred of guilt about it.

After all, I’ve been continuously suffering while being involved in the Devils’ cases and I had been constantly dishing out some fucking good results.

I believed that it was within my right to ask this much out of them.

“Also, I have one more thing to show.”

I continued on, ignoring Dean Walter’s sharp gaze that was fixed on me.

“If any of the Devils has a high level of ‘cooperation’ with me, I can also do something like this.”

I said while sending Riru back and dragging Seras forward by her wrist.

Her eyes spun frantically. Judging by how they whirled around like a whirlpool, I could safely assume that she was asking me, ‘Are we really going to do this?’.

“This is an example.”

But I ignored her and smiled as I casually continued my presentation.

Well, this was a way of me asking her back, ‘We’ve already agreed to do this, no?’.

“...Ugh, uu…”

As I flicked my fingers once, Seras closed her eyes tightly while putting both her hands over her chest and bowed.

I didn’t ask her to do anything big. She just needed to release the Aura she had always been ‘suppressing’ for just a moment.

Because this punk, unlike Riru, hadn’t had any opportunities to get close to the Devil inside her, it was obvious that she hadn’t gotten used to handling her Demonic Aura.

Of course, in the end, that wouldn’t matter at all. Because once the Aura was released, the punk inside her would do whatever she wanted, completely ignoring her Vessel’s will.

[Masteeeeeer—!]

The Purple Aura took ‘shape’ as it came out of Seras’ body while shouting as such.

Her appearance looked exactly like Seras, but her attitude was similar to a pet dog seeing how she rushed for me with shining eyes, as if she had just met the owner that she hadn’t met for a long time.

[Did you call me? Did you call me?]

“...Yes, yes, I did.”

As I patted her head while she tightly clung to me, she squinted her eyes even more as she began to rub her cheeks against mine.

This was her way of showing intimacy, I guess.

“Anyway, could you please get into Seras’ body for now? Can you do that for me, as a favor?”

[Yes! You’ll compliment me more if I get into her body, right?]

“Of course.”

Hearing my affirmation, she quickly entered Seras’ body.

Now, she had Seras’ body, but from the way she behaved, the Purple Devil was in total control.

“...It’s like this.”

I pointed at Seras, who was rubbing her head against my hand as if trying to appeal to me cutely. Meanwhile, I directed my words toward Walter, whose expression looked as if he was slowly losing his sense of reality.

Unlike before, with Riru, I didn’t need to showcase a flashy performance.

Because the point of this part of the presentation was to showcase how this punk had ‘obeyed’ my words.

The implication was clear; A Devil obeying a human’s words as if he was her master.

“They are able to obey humans’ ‘control’ if they’re willing to.”

…Well, this was only possible because it was me and because the punk was the Purple Devil specifically.

It was a pretty minor detail, but it was worth enough to tell him.

Anyway, with his personality, after showing him this much, it was clear that he’d do me a service on his own now.

I assume that he’d probably begin to wildly research the phenomenon I had just shown him.

Soon enough, he’d give me some helpful information on his own.

“...You.”

His words came out almost like a groan.

“You’re a genuinely ridiculous man, you know that, Dowd Campbell?”

“...Am I now?”

“Of course. That ability of yours isn’t even complete yet, is it?”

“...”

“I could tell. The Seal on your chest seems to react to the Demonic Aura, that’s the key behind all this. Judging by the Aura I could feel from it… It barely reached half of its capabilities, yet it already has this much control over the Devils…?”

I sent him a meaningful smile.

See?

I haven’t told him much but he already successfully made some great deductions.

Like I said, he’s worth ‘winning over’.

As I thought so…

The door to the auditorium suddenly burst open.

“Excuse m—”

The person who entered the auditorium while saying so, looked really familiar.

She was a female student I had never seen before, that was for sure…

But she looked almost exactly like Seras.

If Seras was a few years younger and cut her hair short, she’d look exactly like this female student.

“...Seras?”

The female student suddenly called out.

As if coming back to her senses upon hearing her name being called out, the Demonic Aura that was wrapping around Seras’ body dispersed in an instant.

“...Victoria?”

Seras said in haste before alternately looking at the girl, Victoria, and her own current state.

“...Uh.”

Just like that, a few seconds passed…

Suddenly, Seras’ face turned so red, as if I were to touch her even slightly, she’d leak out red juice from there.

It was to the point that it was clear to see that she had gone from simply being embarrassed to a complete meltdown.

Unable to calm her shaking pupils, which were shaking so much as if there was a localized earthquake happening there, Seras struggled to form a word to say to Victoria.

“...I-It isn’t what you think!”

Hearing that, Victoria unknowingly stepped back.

Contempt was clearly expressed in her eyes, meanwhile, her expression looked as if she had just seen a bug.

“...N-No, wait, Victoria, listen to m—”

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

“...”

“I don’t know anyone like you. Please don’t talk to me.”

I could see a drop of tears full of shame formed in Seras’ eye. At the same time, Victoria walked out and slammed the auditorium’s door.

“...”

“...”

Then, a catastrophic silence fell on the auditorium.

The whole room turned terrifyingly quiet, as if everyone was stunned by what had just happened.

“...Hey, are you okay?”

Surprisingly, it was Riru, the one who usually had a cat-and-dog-like relationship with Seras, who broke the silence first.

She approached Seras while hesitantly reading Seras’ expression as she said so.

That was how bad Seras’ current condition looked. Even Riru, out of all people, was worried for her.

“...Who’s that person? Do you know her?”

“...”

Hearing that question, Seras covered her own mouth with both hands.

Her body was shaking. A drop of tears even ran down from her eyes.

“...S-She’s m-my…”

Seras said, sounding as if she was on the verge of tears.

Then, in a voice that was filled with shame—she sounded as if she would’ve willingly crawl into a mouse hole if there was one nearby—she continued.

“M-My younger sisteeer… whom I parted ways with when we were kids.”

“...”

“W-We haven’t seen each other for over ten years… B-But the first thing she saw in such a long time… was… was this…”

“...”

“...”

Seras couldn’t bring herself to continue. Another long silence fell upon the room.

So, uh…

Uh…

Like…

Basically, the first thing that her little sister saw about her after they were apart for nearly over a decade was this…

“...”

Even with this twisted sense of morality that I had, I knew that this situation was a little too unfortunate for her.

[As expected from Dowd Campbell.]

“...”

[So ruthless.]

“...”

[As expected of the most evil bastard I had ever known. You haven’t lost your touch.]

Ugh…

I couldn’t even say anything to retort that…