How Could Lanqi Be the Headmaster?

Across emerald-green leaves clung a layer of bizarre crimson. Drops of blood slid slowly down the petals, their pungent stench breaking the silence. The cultist Lilette fought desperately to suppress the surge of joy in her heart, keeping the corners of her mouth from twitching. She was certain Hyperion wouldn't dare attack Immortal Quicksilver. Because the moment Hyperion drew near, she would also have to guard against Lilette and Immortal Quicksilver coordinating in secret to ambush her. Only Lilette could boldly and safely kill Immortal Quicksilver. For Hyperion, this was truly an unseen dead end! In the distance. As if realizing this as well, Hyperion slumped to the ground in utter despair. Meanwhile, Lilette rushed toward Immortal Quicksilver without hesitation. "..." Lanqi shifted his gaze slightly from the pages of his book, catching sight of Lilette furiously butchering her own summoned beast. This outlaw seemed quite fond of directing and starring in her own drama, even having the silver aberration lash back at her now and then, making it look as though she and this summon were mortal enemies and that she was doing everything she could to pin the blame on Hyperion. Lanqi tilted his head to look at Hyperion on the ground. Their eyes happened to meet. Lanqi gave a subtle wink. It meant: *All according to plan.* "..." Hyperion's eyes were filled with speechlessness and exasperation. She felt that even if Lanqi had just led the two demon teachers to wear down the cultists in a head-on fight, they wouldn't necessarily have lost. Of course, winning without shedding blood was naturally for the best. Still, Hyperion strongly suspected Lanqi simply wanted to see the cultist break down upon learning the truth and realizing her intellect had been utterly toyed with. ... A few minutes later. On the devastated lawn of the botanical garden, through the joint efforts of the Director of the Magic Department and Lilette, the silver aberration summon was finally destroyed. Lilette let out a sigh of relief and looked toward the Headmaster. She believed she had successfully cleared the mechanic. Next, the Headmaster would help her deal with the young duchess. However... That sense of relief lasted less than a second. The very instant her guard dropped, an aura of deathly, inhuman mana struck from her flank like a bolt of thunder from the sky, without the slightest warning. It was a sneak attack from the Director of the Magic Department. Lilette reacted with uncanny speed. Almost instantly sensing the danger, her body twisted in a reflex arc, dodging the lethal strike. Even so... Her outer coat was sliced open by the mana. Blood seeped from the wound, staining her dress. At this moment, dread flooded Lilette's heart once more. In the distance. The Headmaster was still reading. Hyperion was still sitting on the ground. This harmonious picture made it seem as though the Headmaster had never intended to fulfill his promise to execute Hyperion at all. "Why?!" Lilette rapidly parried the Director of the Magic Department's deadly onslaught, her eyes brimming with shock and bewilderment. If her reflexes hadn't been fast enough, she would have lost her life right then and there. Meanwhile, one of the demon teachers beside the Headmaster had already sprung into motion, charging straight at the Tier 2 Black Mist Warlock and lopping off his head. "Fool. Did you really think you could deceive Lord Headmaster?" The Director of the Magic Department sneered in mockery. He had naturally understood the Headmaster's scheme. At this moment, his admiration for the Headmaster's astonishing wisdom—rivaling a demon grand sage—only deepened. With a few simple words, he had manipulated this rule-breaking student into personally destroying that troublesome silver summon! "Isn't the Headmaster neutral?!" Lilette's heart pounded like runaway drums, erratic, chaotic, and frantic. The heavy despair dealt by reality made her brain rattle. She couldn't understand why this Shadow World was so unfair. It felt as if no matter how she played the mechanic just now, she would be the one executed! "Of course I am neutral. But you are the one who broke school rules, and you even tried to frame a good student. If I don't execute you, who else would I execute?" Lanqi said nonchalantly, like someone flipping through a book in his own back garden, unwilling to spare even a glance at a buzzing pest. Hyperion, sitting on the ground, finally dropped her act. A vindictive smile broke across her face, as if mocking Lilette. The sight she caught out of the corner of her eye gave Lilette a fleeting illusion— It made her suspect that this Headmaster was simply showing blatant, unjust favoritism toward Hyperion! "Lanqi, may I tell her the truth now?" Hyperion turned back, looking at Lanqi and asking. "Haven't you already told her?" Lanqi ran a fingertip lightly over the page, speaking without even lifting his head. "Lanqi...?" At the very moment Lilette's shock and indignation reached their peak in the distance... She heard Hyperion call the Headmaster's name. *Lanqi.* An absurd yet terrifying conjecture detonated like muffled thunder in Lilette's mind. At the same time, more and more doubts seemed to converge and connect in her heart. Why had Hyperion's teammate been nowhere to be seen this whole time? Why was this Glow Demon's mana so strong that it was almost imperceptible? And why had the Headmaster previously let the challengers pass the mechanic so smoothly? The moment all these questions intertwined, along with the explanation that "Lanqi is the Headmaster," everything seemed to fall into place! "Could it be that... you are Lanqi?!" That was the only explanation Lilette could find. "Indeed, it is this Headmaster. You are correct." Lanqi elegantly and calmly took out the nameplate he had obtained back in the music classroom—[Lanqi, Music Department Teacher]—and pinned it to his chest, as if informing Lilette that he was not merely the Headmaster, but also an official subject teacher of this academy. His attitude of never having looked directly at her from beginning to end seemed to underscore the vast gulf in their status within Demon Academy right now. "Aaagh!! Lanqi! You bastard!!!" Lilette's scream tore through the air, fury and despair echoing through the grove of the botanical garden. Her eyes were red and swollen, the bloodshot veins beneath her tears looking as though they would spill over with crimson. She finally understood that she had been led around by the nose like an absolute fool. Not only had she been fooled in the Headmaster's Office earlier by the clear hierarchical relationship between this guy and the demon professors... ...now she had been bewitched by his presence and words into personally wiping out her greatest reliance for escape. And right now... The corridor was already packed with a large number of demon teachers, waiting only for Lanqi's order to move. "Faculty members, please punish this student who has violated school discipline, harmed fellow students and teachers, and severely damaged school property." Holding the book in one hand and reading attentively, Lanqi raised his right hand and gave a slight flick of his index finger. The next second, the demon teachers in the corridor behind strode into the classroom in unison. Before Lilette's terrified gaze... She saw a dense, wall-like formation of demon teachers, marching forward as if ready to trample the botanical garden flat. The ground itself began to rumble. At this moment, she finally recalled the nightmare-like terror beyond all limits that a human could experience. Even as her sanity collapsed, she could not fathom what kind of madman could, in a single night, climb from student to headmaster in an academy filled entirely with demons. ... "Hyperion, thank you for your hard work keeping Poet of Great Love company." Lanqi, still racing against time to read his book, spoke. Less than a minute remained in the Shadow World. From the moment Poet of Great Love was defeated, sitting in the Headmaster's Office, he had sensed the upheaval in the botanical garden. Thus, he had set out immediately. Rushing through the corridors had cost him quite a bit of reading time. Fortunately, though, he was finally almost done. "If I keep hanging around you and Poet of Great Love, I feel like I'll be officially enrolled as a member of the demon race." Hyperion stood up wearily. On this trip to Demon Academy, she had learned quite a lot. The good news was that she had learned it all from Lanqi. The bad news was that she now felt as though her demon bloodline had awakened. Theoretically, one should learn how to be a human from another human, but from Lanqi, she hadn't picked up a single element of humanity. Just as they were waiting for this Tier 4 Shadow World to draw to a close... "Lanqi!!" In the distance, from the spot about to be swallowed up by the demon teachers, a sudden voice rang out, sounding like a dying curse. "You will regret helping this demon half-blood duchess!!" As those words abruptly cut off... The cultist Lilette's voice, accompanied by a desperate shriek, was drowned out by the sound of tearing flesh amid the demonic tide. Lanqi seemed to have no particular thoughts or reaction. He simply continued reading. Hyperion's face, however, instantly turned somewhat pale. The secret she had kept hidden from Lanqi for so long had been unexpectedly laid bare at the very final moment of this Shadow World. Although she knew she couldn't keep her demon heritage hidden for very long anyway... ...she had planned to find a good opportunity to confess to Lanqi of her own accord after returning to the real world. Not to have him hear it from someone else's mouth like this, as if she had been deceiving him all along. "Lanqi, listen to me, I... originally intended to tell you as soon as possible." The heavy silence seemed to suffocate her, cutting each of her sentences short. Yet Lanqi's eyes remained fixed intently on the book in his hands, as if he had no desire to hear her explanation. "...I really didn't mean to deceive you." Hyperion's voice grew fainter and fainter, like a winter breath gently dissipating into the cold air.