Whenever the wind gusted, the wooden window frame creaked and groaned. The cloth hung over the small casement fluttered faintly, now and then letting stray drops of rain seep through its folds and drip to the floor.
In the center of this dim room, the Poet of Great Love paced around Phoenix, speaking in her airy, flippant voice.
"Student Phoenix, right now your little sister, Phyllis, is resting in the school infirmary."
"..."
The mere presence of the great demon beside him struck Phoenix with overwhelming dread. Worse still, she seemed capable of manipulating his emotions, amplifying that fear without end.
Phoenix, of course, understood what the Poet of Great Love was talking about.
Phyllis must have accidentally caught sight of Lanqi dueling Adams on the broadcast screen, mistaken him for that terrifying headmaster from Purgatory Corridor Academy, and passed out from sheer fright.
In truth, their encounter with Lanqi's team on the very first day of school at Ikerite Academy had been no coincidence. He had received word that he could intercept a hunting target and had promptly queued for matchmaking.
After returning, in order to ensure the absolute secrecy of his identity and mission in the real world, he had remained in a hypnotic state until receiving the wake-up command, completely forgetting everything related to the Resurrection Church.
He had never had the chance to pass along the intelligence gathered by the church to his sister.
"Do whatever you want with her," Phoenix said coldly and resolutely, sounding as though he did not care in the slightest whether she lived or died.
"Heh heh."
The Poet of Great Love hopped up onto Lanqi's desk and crooked a finger.
Without a word, Lanqi understood what she wanted. He drew a stack of translucent cards glowing with various hues from his soul space and held them out for her to browse.
Even so, he had no idea which magic card she was after.
After leafing through them for a moment, the Poet of Great Love drew "Polymorph: Demon" and cast it on Lanqi.
Lanqi shifted back into his Glow Demon form from Purgatory Corridor Academy.
Then, she tapped on the desk in front of Hyperion, signaling her to dispel her disguise and revert to her original half-demon appearance.
In an instant, the storeroom looked as though it had been transformed into demon territory.
"Just which of us is whose summon, anyway?" Lanqi grumbled under his breath as he put the magic cards away.
He had begun to feel that the Poet of Great Love was truly the ultimate life-form. As long as he, her host, did not die, she was immortal. Even if defeated, she could simply be summoned again once the cooldown expired.
"Hmph! If I were a card maker and could get my hands on your soul materials, I'd definitely turn you into some kind of poet and make you my signature card!"
The Poet of Great Love looked back with a proud snort.
Her card-making talent far outstripped Lanqi's. It was a pity she was restricted to tier 1 and could only serve as his assistant.
Turning back, she fixed her gaze on Phoenix once more.
"Phoenix, just picture this scenario. Suppose I take Lanqi to the infirmary later to pay your sister a visit. She's just woken up from a terrifying nightmare, feeling a little reassured, thinking she's finally back in reality... And then, on this dark, stormy day with thunder rolling outside, she sees a living demon like me boldly strutting into her ward inside the prestigious, safety-renowned Ikerite Academy—and right behind me comes Headmaster Glow Demon himself. How do you think she'll react?"
The Poet of Great Love smiled delightfully as she painted the scene for him.
"She'll break, won't she? Absolutely shatter, don't you think?"
The eager gleam in her eyes made it clear she could hardly wait to try.
She watched Phoenix's composure crumble, the veins bulging across his face, until finally she pointed at him and burst into unrestrained laughter.
"Didn't you claim you couldn't care less about your sister? Didn't you say, 'Do whatever you want with her'? Why do you look like you're sitting on pins and needles now?"
Mocking him, the Poet of Great Love deliberately mimicked Phoenix's earlier tone.
Once his emotions were magnified, Phoenix's true intentions were painfully easy to see through.
His indifference had been nothing more than an act.
At the slightest crack, the Poet of Great Love could effortlessly dismantle a prisoner's psychological defenses.
"No! You can't lay a hand on my sister! She isn't a Resurrection Church cultist! None of this has anything to do with her!"
Phoenix roared on the verge of a breakdown.
These demons might not harm a single hair on her head, but they could utterly destroy her very soul!
"I bet you're thinking that upstanding folks like us couldn't possibly stoop to threatening your family... and that once we confirm her innocence, we wouldn't dare touch her..."
The Poet of Great Love spread her hands, arching an eyebrow with great amusement, and purred, "But take a good look at us right now. Do we look like humans to you?"
Grinning broadly, she stepped to the side.
Behind her sat two demons.
Both wore indifferent, detached expressions, completely unmoved by the suffering before them. That brand of wicked coldness belonged solely to the demon race.
"...!"
In that instant, a terrifying thought crossed Phoenix's mind—
This no longer felt like Ikerite, the royal capital of the Hutton Kingdom.
It felt like a demon stronghold.
He even began to suspect that the entire kingdom had already been subverted and infiltrated by demons...
"Tell you what, maybe we should just have the student council organize a campus event later. The theme can be 'Everyone Cosplays as Demons' for a grand carnival! When your sister wakes up and steps out of the infirmary, she'll find the entire academy overrun with demons, everyone acting completely mad. Just picture that scene—how does it sound? A real-life demon game! We'll let her run first, and just when she thinks she's about to escape the nightmare, Headmaster Glow Demon Lanqi will step into her path..."
Like an impassioned director, the Poet of Great Love tirelessly painted one vivid picture after another for Phoenix.
Minute after minute passed.
"No... stop, please don't say any more!"
Under the Poet of Great Love's psychological barrage, Phoenix's mental defenses finally collapsed. Trembling, tears streaming down his face, he sobbed, "I'll agree to whatever you want... Just don't hurt Phyllis..."
"..."
At the desk not far away.
Hyperion sat in silence, turning her head to stare at Lanqi.
Lanqi was still sipping his tea, listening intently to the Poet of Great Love's interrogation procedure. His face bore the gratified expression of an educator watching a prodigal son finally repent.
He looked precisely like a school administrator sitting in the back of a classroom, observing a civics teacher's open lecture.
"We've saved another wayward youth. Such abundant merit gained once more."
Noticing Hyperion's gaze, Lanqi turned his head to look at her and smiled gently.
"..."
Hyperion found herself utterly speechless.
She did not want to spend another single second in this room with these two heaven-chosen demons. Her only desire was to rush off and seek comfort from Tata.
If Lanqi was a pseudo-human, then his Poet of Great Love was an outright bastard.
The Poet of Great Love didn't even bother pretending.
Yet there was still a difference between the two: at least the Poet of Great Love knew she was twisted and possessed a crystal-clear awareness that she had surrendered her humanity.
Lanqi, on the other hand, genuinely believed there was nothing wrong with him.
Hyperion could no longer tell which side of the room was the good guys and which was the cultist.
She couldn't begin to imagine what Dean Loren would think tomorrow when they handed over a completely reformed, reborn Phoenix—or what horrifyingly cruel makeover the dean would assume they had subjected this elite cultist to.
Chapter 195