The next day…
A tragedy befell the students of Sobu High.
"The first-year Spring Flower—our angel, Mahiru—submitted her application to the Department of Mystical Affairs this morning and officially became a member."
The moment this news spread, the students who had already seen the school's various ice-cold beauties get into Leo's private car yesterday and leave with him fell completely silent.
Then, silence gave way to despair.
"No! This has to be fake!"
"Why would even the angel-sama join that Department of Mystical Affairs?!"
"What the hell is going on with that club? How did it steal away so many of our school's flowers?"
"Don't tell me Eligos-senpai actually mastered some mysterious power and hypnotized them!"
"I refuse to accept this!!!"
The reaction was intense—extremely intense.
After all, each of Sobu High's five school beauties had their own charm: gentle, elegant, refined, cool… they covered the taste of almost every student. No matter what kind of girl one liked, there was always at least one to fall for.
So aside from a few exceptions, nearly every student belonged to one of these "flower fanclubs," and many members were girls themselves. Their supporters practically filled the entire school.
But now, with these flowers joining the Department of Mystical Affairs one after another, the supporters were almost wiped out in a single sweep.
By early morning, countless students had crowded the hallway outside the clubroom. Some came to gather information, some to observe, and some—thinking they were clever—came hoping to join the club themselves. The corridor was packed shoulder-to-shoulder.
The commotion even alarmed teachers, who rushed over in attempts to restore order.
Naturally, Leo and the rest of the Department of Mystical Affairs members were bombarded with questions again—especially Mahiru, who was surrounded the entire day with no way to escape.
"I joined because Eligos-senpai invited me. I thought the Department of Mystical Affairs seemed interesting, so I decided to become a member."
Mahiru didn't know how many times she repeated this explanation, but no one believed her.
The Department of Mystical Affairs… interesting?
What exactly was interesting about it?
What did it have that lured so many school beauties in one after another?
That was the answer everyone wanted—but Leo and the other club members brushed off every question.
It drove the students insane. Some even reported it to teachers, but the result was the same as always—nothing came of it. And so, the students could only wallow in helplessness.
"You guys just want to know what the club actually does, right? Shouldn't that be allowed?"
"They must be doing something they can't tell anyone! Why else hide it?!"
"Is that the mysterious part of the Department of Mystical Affairs?!"
"Enough! I've had it! Who's brave enough to go check the club after school with me?"
"You, you, you! You're coming!"
"Add me!"
"I'm in too!"
"I'm too curious to endure this!"
At this point, the Department of Mystical Affairs had captured everyone's attention—students and teachers alike. Everyone wanted to pull back the veil and see what lay beneath.
This obscure club with a strange name had suddenly overshadowed all other popular clubs at Sobu High. It became the hottest and most talked-about group in school.
Dozens of people tried asking about club requirements, and Mahiru's group eventually shoved the responsibility onto Leo.
"If you want to join our club, you have to pass the president's screening."
At once, Leo became the center of the school once more, besieged by questions.
Leo, of course, responded lazily. He tossed a questionnaire into the crowd.
"There are one hundred questions. If you can answer half correctly, you can join."
Everyone eagerly took a sheet—then immediately froze.
"Do you believe devils exist?"
"What do you think is 'mysterious'?"
"What do you think the Underworld is like?"
"If a beautiful girl suddenly appears before you, would you date her, or would you rather make her your servant?"
And so on.
An entire sheet filled with these kinds of questions.
What. In. The. Hell.
Could any human possibly answer these?
There weren't even standard answers!
Whoever wrote these questions couldn't be serious… right?
Was this chuuni nonsense? Delusion? Some seventh-dimension quiz only non-humans could solve?
The students ranted in their hearts, but in the end, they still tried answering.
After all, the Department of Mystical Affairs studied supernatural stuff. Maybe these were topics they wanted to discuss?
Even if they didn't believe in the supernatural, they could still make something up.
Half the questions? Easy! They'd seen enough anime and urban legends!
But then… naturally…
Every single one of them failed miserably.
"Wh—Why?!"
"I thought I answered pretty well!!!"
"I swear that question was from a fairy tale! How did I get it wrong?!"
"I'm telling you, they're messing with us!"
But Leo wasn't messing with anyone.
These questions did have real answers—answers based on actual facts he knew. Sure, a few contained his personal bias, but that didn't make them fake.
If anyone managed to get even half right, that meant they weren't from the human world.
Therefore, qualified to join.
At least Eriri, who received the questionnaire, felt she could answer more than half correctly.
After all, she'd received all the relevant information from Leo's transmitted memories last night.
Which was why Eriri couldn't help but speak up:
"Give up. It's impossible for you to pass. Forget about joining the Department of Mystical Affairs."
That place is full of devils—they won't associate with ordinary humans like us.
But instead of discouraging people, Eriri's advice only made them more suspicious of her.
"Sawamura-san, don't tell me you want to join too?"
"Yeah! Sawamura-san is the last remaining ice flower! You have to be careful!"
"Don't let Eligos-senpai steal every flower from our school!"
"You even got into his car yesterday—don't tell me…"
Voices piled on from every direction, nearly forcing Eriri's true personality to slip out.
They were trying to "console" her, but somehow she felt even worse.
The word loser drifted through her mind…
Every other ice flower had joined the Department of Mystical Affairs—except her.
Wasn't that the very definition of a loser?
"No! I'm not a loser! I'm a winner in life!"
Eriri screamed internally as she forced a shaky smile and replied:
"Don't worry. I already joined the art club. I'm not joining any other club."
Finally, the chaos around her calmed.
Unbeknownst to the students, Leo had already given up on her.
"Leave the last one for the mundane world. It's… kind of pitiful."
He'd already earned the sweet treasure that was Mahiru, and Utaha had confirmed that Eriri wasn't someone he intended to recruit anyway.
Besides, she was a hentai artist—if she joined, they'd have to worry about her ruining the "Eligos family's dignity" someday…
"Sobu High's resources are almost dried up. Time to look toward the academy instead."
Leo wasn't rushing, though.
Right now, strengthening his existing servants and his own power was more urgent.
He had enough servants already—they needed time to grow, and he needed to give them attention so they could reach their full potential. Only then could he safely expand further.
"It's time to accelerate Yukino and the others' growth."
Thinking of the chaos the future might bring, Leo made up his mind.
But before that, they had to complete the trip to Kuoh Academy.
With that plan in mind, Leo refrained from making any major moves for a while, letting the uproar around the Department of Mystical Affairs slowly fade.
But just because he stayed still…
Didn't mean everyone else did.
Somewhere deep within a shadow no one could perceive, something unknown began to stir.
In a alternate dimension within the human world—
A space completely undetectable, isolated from the living world.
At the center of that space lay a sea of corpses and blood.
The corpses belonged to monsters.
The blood belonged to monsters.
Countless bodies formed mountains; their blood pooled into a red ocean, painting the space like a slice of hell.
From the heart of that sea, a figure dripping with blood slowly stepped out.
"Congratulations. You've mastered a new power."
Someone approached her with a smile.
"Now, I can go out, right?"
The blood-soaked nun stared at the newcomer, expressionless.
"Of course. We never intended to imprison you." The man smiled. "But are you sure you want to cause trouble for those people now?"
"You're still in hiding. None of the major factions know you exist. If you go out now, you might expose everything."
His warning went ignored.
"We agreed already. You won't stop me."
The blood-soaked nun walked past him, determined.
The other sighed helplessly.
"Fine. Just try not to pick a fight with devils while you're at it."
"For now, I won't."
Without another word, the bloodied nun vanished into the void…