Suzune Rione glanced at Hiiragi Utena beside her. Seeing her pursing her lips and a bit lost in thought, she silently looked away.
If Hiiragi Utena were some utterly irredeemable villain, it would have been fine to just let Hachiman severely punish Hiiragi Utena to collect desire energy. But Hiiragi Utena was a friend of Hachiman's younger sister.
In order to prevent Hiiragi Utena from leaking her identity, she and Hachiman had already filmed a video of Hiiragi Utena. Going any further would be a bit too much.
"Once you've collected enough, that's fine. But what you did was still pretty risky. What if the other side summoned a demon you couldn't deal with?"
Hachiman looked at the purple-haired goddess angel Suzune Rione, who had completely recovered and showed no trace at all of what she had just gone through from her appearance alone, and reminded her with a smile.
He dared to go this wild because he had long since latched onto Gabriel's thigh, and as time went on, he had gained all kinds of ridiculously powerful abilities. Maybe in certain situations he was even stronger than Gabriel and the others.
But for Suzune Rione to just let the other party summon a demon was a bit reckless, wasn't it? Even if that demon was from the Demon Realm, one of the spirit worlds, unable to forcibly interfere with the material world and only able to erode the human world with a spiritual body.
"No, he won't. He's just an ordinary human who's thrown in his lot with demons. He shouldn't be able to summon a particularly powerful demon."
Suzune Rione noticed Hachiman's gaze fixed on her. Subconsciously, just like earlier, she clamped her straight, slender legs together, and her face, which had just turned fair again, flushed red once more.
She lightly took a breath, doing her best to remain calm, and shook her head at Hachiman as she explained.
After such a long time of being talked through things by Hachiman, she had already calmed down. She no longer had the urgency and self-blame she felt when she first saw that assistant's brain being contaminated and his life nearing its end.
She knew that she couldn't even be sure whether that guy could really summon a demon. But with the opportunity right in front of her, she couldn't easily give up on an assistant who had once helped her.
After this matter was over, she would erase this assistant's memories of her and cut off contact with him, to avoid him being targeted by demons again and put in danger because of her.
Perhaps she shouldn't have sought out assistants in the first place.
After all, the battle between goddess angels and evil forces was far from over. Those with designs on the human world were far more than just the demons of a single Demon Realm. Asking ordinary people with no means of self-protection for help would sooner or later put them in danger.
Suzune Rione looked at Hachiman, who had just finished assisting her yet showed no sign of weakness at all, his life energy instead growing stronger and stronger. A strange light flashed through her eyes.
"Then, Utena, are you going to head back first? You probably didn't tell Komachi and the others when you came out, right?"
Hachiman nodded and looked at Hiiragi Utena, who was standing there at a loss.
"I... um, can I go back together with you later, Hachiman Nii-chan? But if I end up bothering you, Hachiman Nii-chan, I can go back first..."
Hiiragi Utena hesitated for a moment. Looking at Suzune Rione and Hachiman standing together, seemingly well-matched and pleasing to the eye, she spoke hesitantly in a small voice.
She had been out for so long that she didn't even know what excuse to make when she went back.
Leaving without a word and just going straight home would be really bad too. It hadn't been easy for Komachi and Shion to not mind her being so ordinary and withdrawn, to take the initiative to befriend her and even bring her home to play.
But following Hachiman was different. She could say she came out together with Hachiman. That way, Komachi and Shion probably wouldn't be angry about her suddenly leaving, right?
"Of course you can. Rione and I are going to deal with demons. Utena, if you're willing to come along and help, there's no problem."
Hachiman looked somewhat amused at Hiiragi Utena, who seemed to have misunderstood something. Did he need to send Hiiragi Utena away to do anything with Suzune Rione? She had helped him swallow for so long just now, and now she was thinking about this instead.
He just thought that Hiiragi Utena was still at a newbie level right now, not the six-star magic powerhouse Maple Syrup Supreme Commander yet, so it would be better to let her go home first.
Hiiragi Utena might not know, but how could he not know?
With Hiiragi Utena delayed here for so long, the magical girls Hanabishi Haruka and the others had probably already returned to the Service Club. If Hanabishi Haruka and the others found out about Hiiragi Utena's identity as a mid-ranking executive of an evil organization, the scene would be...
Well, actually, it wouldn't be that big of a problem. At worst, he could act as a mediator and let them be a bit more harmonious, settling things through technical competition.
See which side could hold out to the end first and defeat the other side a hundred times.
Seeing that Hachiman didn't refuse to let her go along, delight flashed across Hiiragi Utena's face. But she immediately lowered her head to look at the black-and-white maid outfit she was wearing.
The originally somewhat short and narrow apron skirt instantly became longer and wider, covering her fair thighs. The exposed fair skin on the back of the maid outfit, which had been revealed by the hollow design, was also covered by fabric.
Mm... one advantage of this maid outfit was that it didn't need to be washed and could adjust its size.
Compared to that extremely revealing evil organization female executive outfit, she preferred this black-and-white maid outfit. It felt suitable for many occasions and didn't make her feel embarrassed.
However, after putting on this black-and-white maid outfit, her mind had gained a lot of knowledge she had never understood before.
Body flexibility training, foot care techniques, versatile clothing coordination, maid self-discipline training, the various kinds of knowledge contained in the maid outfit directly shocked Hiiragi Utena.
Fortunately, Hachiman said that once she took off the maid outfit, she would forget all this knowledge. Otherwise, just thinking about the blushing, heart-pounding things in there, she wouldn't dare look at Hachiman.
"Then let's go back and summon the demon."
Seeing that Hiiragi Utena had finished talking with Hachiman, Suzune Rione didn't delay any longer. The three of them returned together to the company building where Suzune Rione and the demon had previously fought.
The aftershocks of Suzune Rione's battle with the demon had damaged quite a few places. It was probably the commotion from the fight that passersby noticed and reported to the police.
At this moment, many police cars were already parked below the company building. After sealing off the scene, many officers were busy at the site, investigating the truth of the incident around the area.
But Suzune Rione and the others naturally didn't need to worry about the police. Using invisibility magic, they passed over the cordon and the officers at the scene, arrived at the sealed location, and took the balding middle-aged man away.
They had originally thought about dealing with it directly here, but now that the police had arrived at the scene, it wouldn't be convenient to start a fight.
Even though Suzune Rione and Hachiman were confident they could eliminate the summoned demon, they couldn't guarantee that all the ordinary people present would be completely safe. So they had to find a place with no people.
After flying to an uninhabited area in the suburbs, Hachiman tossed the balding middle-aged man he was carrying to the side.
A glint flashed in Suzune Rione's eyes as she released the seal on him. A spear of light once again materialized in her hand.
The balding middle-aged man had just appeared on the ground. Before he could recover from his dazed state, he discovered that an incomparably sharp spear of light was once again held across his neck.
"The desire energy has already been collected. Hurry up and summon the demon for me. If you can't summon it, then you can die right now."
"O-okay, I'll summon it right away!"
The balding middle-aged man looked at the photon spear across his neck, which could kill him at any moment, then looked at the pink-purple crystal in the palm of Suzune Rione's other hand. Nervous and terrified, he hurriedly replied.
How much time had even passed? It still felt like night. Could it be that several days and nights had already gone by?
The collected desire energy was already so concentrated that it had condensed into a crystal. Even if this boy's life energy was extremely strong, enough to rival hundreds or thousands of people, it should still take several days of nonstop effort to collect this much desire energy in just a few days.
The balding middle-aged man, who had a bit of understanding of desire energy, was utterly shocked. It felt as if Suzune Rione had sealed him for a very, very long time, but he hadn't noticed the passage of time at all.
But he didn't dare ask too many questions, afraid that the goddess angel would poke a bloody hole in him with her spear.
But this was good too. With so much and such pure desire energy, it would definitely be possible to summon a very powerful demon. When the time came, he would make this arrogant goddess angel, who treated him with such disdain, flee in panic.
As the balding middle-aged man thought about summoning a powerful demon to help him deal with this unbearably arrogant goddess angel who hadn't given him even a bit of a good look, his expression became much more serious. Staring at the desire energy crystal in Suzune Rione's hand, he muttered under his breath and used the summoning method taught to him by the demon.
"＆＃＃￥%…＆/**%@＃￥%…"
However, after a long while, nothing at all happened at the scene.
Aside from the rustling sound of leaves and the howling of the wind, there was only the balding middle-aged man's strangely intoned chanting.
Hiiragi Utena blinked. She looked at Hachiman and Suzune Rione beside her, then at the balding middle-aged man opposite them with sweat beading on his forehead. Only then did she confirm that she wasn't spacing out.
"Is he lying? Or was he tricked? Does he actually not know how to summon a demon at all?"
Hachiman looked at the completely motionless surroundings and felt that Suzune Rione had been deceived, and that he himself had worked for nothing for so long.
"No! Impossible! They have no reason to lie to me!"
Hearing Hachiman question whether he was a liar, the balding middle-aged man became extremely flustered and shouted in rebuttal.
Now he was really panicking. Could it be that it didn't work?
Summoning a demon was his only way out. If he couldn't summon a powerful demon to turn the tables, he would definitely be killed by the goddess angel.
Suzune Rione didn't speak, only staring at the other party with a slight frown.
Actually, she could tell that the demons really had taught this guy how to summon a demon.
Without being specially taught, it would be impossible to smoothly chant this kind of bizarre intonation.
However, even though she could feel that the desire energy crystal in her hand was emitting special energy fluctuations along with the demon summoning incantation, seemingly transmitting some kind of signal, there were indeed still no signs of a demon about to be summoned.
Was the desire energy she had collected not enough to succeed in the summoning?
Or had the demons in the Demon Realm sensed her ambush here, and therefore hadn't responded to this guy's summoning?
Suzune Rione, who had always only exterminated demons and had never tried collecting desire energy to summon one, was also a bit at a loss now.
"It's here!"
Suzune Rione's expression suddenly tightened, and Hachiman's expression also shifted. The two of them raised their heads to look into the air.
Hiiragi Utena followed them, somewhat confused, and looked up at the sky.
The pitch-black night sky held only scattered stars.
But at this moment, a hexagram magic circle lit up in midair.
"Lady Mio! The demons blocking the way have all been eliminated."
"There seems to be very strong desire energy here. If I absorb it, it should be enough to take down the pursuers."
A petite silver-haired, purple-eyed shorty dragged a red-haired, red-eyed girl and jumped down from midair, just about to look for the desire energy that had drawn them here.
Then they suddenly saw Hachiman, Suzune Rione, and Hiiragi Utena, who seemed to be lying in wait for them here. The two of them, who had just been rejoicing at escaping pursuit, both froze in place.
"Rione... could it be that the demon you wanted to summon got killed on the way here?", Hearing the other party's words, Hachiman turned his head to look at Suzune Rione beside him.
"..."
Suzune Rione stared expressionlessly at the two girls, whose bodies emitted an evil aura similar to demons yet somewhat different. The knuckles of her right hand gripping the spear of light turned white.
The demon she wanted to summon to make an antidote had been killed?
She had endured her embarrassment and worked so hard for so long, all for nothing?
'God race? Demon race? Human?'
The red-haired, red-eyed girl looked at the two women and one man before her with uncertainty. Their auras were clearly distinct and seemed incompatible, yet also somehow blended together. Suddenly, she heard a thud beside her and hurriedly turned her head to look at the silver-haired, purple-eyed shorty who had teleported here with her.
"Maria? What's wrong with you?"
"L-lord! We were just passing by, we meant no offense."
The silver-haired, purple-eyed shorty, trembling all over and kneeling on the ground, didn't answer the red-haired girl's question. She desperately propped herself up with both hands against the ground, struggling with all her might to raise her head and beg Hachiman for mercy.
Although the purple-haired woman beside the boy, holding a spear and radiating righteousness, was very strong, what truly made her kneel and submit was the man beside her, who looked ordinary but actually possessed an incomparably powerful life aura.
The moment she teleported here, she realized she couldn't control her own body. Her body directly submitted, and she couldn't even muster a thought of resistance.
Now she could only hope that the people before her had nothing to do with the forces pursuing them. Otherwise, she and Lady Mio wouldn't even have the will to run away.
This sense of oppression, she even felt it was greater than when facing the Demon King, a feeling of despair and powerlessness.
"What are you two? Tell me your origins and why you appeared here."
Hachiman looked at the silver-haired, purple-eyed shorty, Naruse Maria, who had abruptly knelt to the ground. He raised a hand to stop Suzune Rione, who, after working in vain all night, couldn't help wanting to make a move. Knowing full well, he asked anyway.
The moment the two of them appeared, the system had already notified him that character cards had been discovered: Naruse Mio and Naruse Maria. [T/N: From "The Testament of Sister New Devil"]
If these two names appeared separately, he might not remember them. After all, the work they came from was relatively old. But when they were put together, he easily realized the origins of these two sisters who existed between the 2D and Hen worlds.
He really hadn't expected that even this master-servant pair, or rather sisters, existed. In his previous life, Naruse Mio, in a certain sense, was comparable to Sora's little sister, immensely shocking to his young mind. It was just that because of some overly intense scenes and plotlines, her fame was far less widespread than Sora's little sister.
"My name is Naruse Maria. I'm a Succubus. The Lady Mio beside me is Naruse Mio, the only daughter of the Demon King Wilbert in the human world."
"Maria? Why are you telling him everything?"
Faced with Hachiman's questioning, the silver-haired, purple-eyed succubus shorty Naruse Maria ignored the shock of Naruse Mio, the Demon King's only daughter beside her, and lowered her head to answer with extreme respect. But inside her heart, endless terror couldn't help but surge forth.
'I clearly can't feel the him using any mental control magic. It is just an ordinary inquiry... so how could this be...'
Although faced with such an overwhelming gap, she didn't have the courage to conceal anything and anger the other party, but now she didn't even have room to think. Whatever the other party asked, she answered directly.
Not only could she not lie, she couldn't even manage the slightest misleading concealment.
"The Demon King's daughter left in the human world, the future Demon King, huh?"
Listening to Naruse Maria introduce herself and Naruse Mio's identities, Hachiman nodded thoughtfully.
What Naruse Maria said was pretty much the same as what he remembered, just with slight differences because there were more factions in this world.
The two of them were also demons, but unlike the demons of the Demon Realm, they were demons from the Demon World.
Although they were both called demons, those in the Demon Realm were relatively weaker. Once they invaded the human world, they would be hunted down by goddess angels of the Goddess Realm, which was also in the spirit world.
Naruse Mio and Naruse Maria's kind of demons also had god-race enemies who lived in the God Realm.
However, Naruse Mio and Naruse Maria were fleeing in such panic, even killing demons that blocked their path, not because they were being pursued by the god race, but because they were being hunted by hostile factions of their own demon race.
Naruse Mio was the only daughter of the Demon King Wilbert of the Demon World. Her father, Wilbert, was a conservative Demon King who advocated a truce and opposed invading the human world.
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