'How did this happen?'
Let's roughly synthesize what Torres said, it goes like this.
A loud sound came from Jesse's room, so when he went to check, he was collapsed.
Black energy is covering his whole body, and he doesn't know what to do.
He could only think of the Professor.
Please help.
There was a deduction that came to mind when I heard up to this point.
'He came into contact with a demon.'
Originally, Jesse contacts a demon and puts Glasco in danger.
But right now, it is too early, far too early.
Above all, what weighs on my mind is that Jesse is 'collapsed'.
·····Because that is a clear rejection reaction.
Jesse's talent contains even demonic energy, and his abilities increase explosively.
But if he is showing a rejection reaction, it means Jesse himself is rejecting that power.
Why would Jesse, for whom strength is everything, reject power?
Pushing the doubts aside, I hurriedly hastened my movements.
When I opened the room door, I saw Jesse collapsed as if dead.
I approached closely and examined him.
Skin discolored to dark red, blood vessels protruding grotesquely.
Certainly, it is a rejection reaction.
"Is there anyone else besides me who saw this state?"
"N-No one yet. I-I was so flustered that······."
He did well.
If he had shown it to someone, Jesse wouldn't even be alive.
"Do not show Jesse's state to anyone in the future as well. Can you do that?"
"Y-Yes. I-I understand. B-But Professor. C-Can our Young Master wake up?"
I cannot guarantee it.
If there is a fortunate thing, maybe it is the fact itself that Jesse is 'showing a rejection reaction'.
Anyway, since he is still alive, he can show a rejection reaction.
But it is not a hopeful situation.
I am also frustrated.
Perhaps the person here who wants to recover Jesse's consciousness the most would be none other than me.
'The demon that guy met. I must find out its identity.'
I need some method.
Something that can remove demonic energy.
But I am not a Saintess of the Holy Empire, there is no way I have such a method.
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Donations from readers are rushing in like a tide.
Thanks to that, I could recall one memory I had forgotten because I was flustered.
===
Aura (Identity Skill)
Trait: Evil Crushing
Possesses overwhelming dominance limited to Evil attributes.
However, points are consumed for activation and maintenance.
My Aura, which I could not have obtained if not for the readers.
That trait also is 'Possesses overwhelming dominance limited to Evil attributes.'
A possibility that might be worth trying came to mind.
"Torres. Do you trust me?"
His pupils tremble severely.
He does not completely trust anyone except Jesse.
I am also included in that 'anyone'.
The problem is that the act I am about to do now could be accepted with a different meaning to Torres.
If he sets his mind to stop me, I could fall into a dangerous situation.
I had to receive a definite answer in advance.
"If you trust me, I can fix Jesse."
Not only Torres but Rit also looked at me with eyes full of doubt.
"How about it, do you trust me?"
"I-I will trust you."
"Good. Trust me no matter what I do. All of this is to save Jesse."
Having received his definite answer, I pulled out the sword hanging from Torres's waist.
"P-Professor!"
"You clearly said you trust me. Keep that word!"
I calmed the flustered Torres and infused Aura into the sword.
A profound radiance dwelt in the sword and blazed.
At the same time, the expression of Rit who was beside me was also distorting.
Rit is originally a demon.
She was being affected by this Aura possessing the property of Evil Crushing.
"P-Professor······."
I see Rit suffering with a face full of pain.
'There is no time.'
Just because Rit is suffering doesn't mean I can withdraw the Aura.
It cost a whopping 1,000p.
'Rit, endure it.'
Let's solve this guy Jesse first.
I lifted the sword straight and plunged it towards Jesse's chest just like that.
"Wh-What are you doing!"
Simultaneously, Torres rushed in wildly.
My knees went weak at that momentum which was truly like a bull.
"Trust me! If you hinder me now, Jesse will die!"
"B-But!"
Rit's face distorts further with pain.
The shell she was wearing began to shake unstably.
'Not yet, not yet!'
A whopping three lives hang on my hands.
Jesse, Rit, and….
'My life is also on the line, wake up, you bastard!'
Did my sincerity reach him?
"Cough, Cough-!"
"Y-Young Master!!"
A fountain of blood spurted from Jesse's mouth.
Torres howled in a state where his eyes had almost rolled back.
A fierce energy dwells in his whole body.
Berserk.
The hidden power dwelling in his blood was trying to awaken.
"To-Torres······ Stop······."
At that moment, a voice like a thin thread flowed from Jesse's mouth.
Torres's head turned sharply towards Jesse.
"Y-Young Master······. Are you okay?"
"I am fine, so······."
"Waaaaah!"
Torres collapsed on that spot and cried loudly.
I pulled the sword out of Jesse's chest and threw it in front of him.
Clang-!
"I definitely would have told you to trust me."
"S-Sorry······ I am sorry, Professor."
It was truly a precarious moment.
If Torres had rushed at me, perhaps I wouldn't have been able to overcome that fierce energy and might have just died right there.
'But why didn't I stop midway?'
It was strange.
My top priority should be survival.
In a situation where my life was threatened, screw Jesse or whatever, I should have just stopped and pulled back.
That would have been proper, but at that time, I only had the thought that I must save Jesse.
'It's not like that bastard is particularly pretty either.'
Is it the sentiment of giving one more rice cake to the hateful guy?
My judgment, which even I cannot understand, is a bit bewildering but.
[Affection with 'Torres' increases significantly. +80]
[Affection with 'Torres' has surpassed 100.]
[Torres is added to the
[Affection with 'Jesse Athlon' increases significantly. +50]
[Affection with 'Jesse Athlon' has surpassed 100.]
[Jesse Athlon is added to the
Still, there is more gained.
It is unexpected that even Jesse was added to the Nurturing system, but the significant increase in Torres's affection is within the expected range.
Though I didn't know it would surpass 100.
"Recover your bodies for now."
"Yes, yes. Professor."
Leaving the two guys answering, I took Rit, who was still groggy, and came outside.
Both I and those guys.
We need time to recover our bodies.
Above all, I needed to distance Rit, whose shell was shaking unstably, from those guys' gazes.
"S-Sorry. Professor. Suddenly my body felt strange and…"
"There is no need to apologize."
Rather, the one who should apologize is me.
The energy of Evil Crushing contained in my Aura could have killed Rit.
"Let's recover your body first."
"Professor······."
[Affection with 'Rit' increases significantly. +30.]
I invested all of it into her Magic Power.
Whenever affection rises, I am investing intensively into Magic Power.
Since the increase in Magic Power is directly proportional to a demon's strength.
Her becoming even a little stronger is work for my sake.
"······Eh? I feel a little better······."
Certainly, with Magic Power supporting her, it seems she became much more comfortable.
Her complexion became much better.
Then I should work now.
"If you became okay, do your job."
"Ah······. Yes! I will escort you to the academic conference right now."
"No."
I shook my head.
Right now, the academic conference is not important.
"Push back the academic conference schedule right now. If the conference side says it is impossible, cancel the lecture."
"Yes? B-But······."
"That is what you have to do."
Leaving her flustered, I turned my body.
Because a much more important matter than the academic conference has arisen.
***
"Y-Young Master, it is truly a relief. Truly…"
"Did you call Professor Lucas?"
"Yes? Yes······ Because there was no one who came to mind except Professor Lucas······."
"······Thank you."
"Yes?"
It was a bombshell declaration.
To think gratitude flowed from Jesse's mouth.
Torres was dumbfounded to the point of doubting his own ears.
"Have you recovered your body completely?"
Professor Lucas reappearing at the appropriate timing.
He approached in front of Jesse.
"The reaction you showed until a moment ago is clearly a rejection reaction to demonic energy. That means you came into contact with a demon."
"Th-That is······."
"Did you become a dog of the demons, Jesse Athlon."
"P-Professor! Our Y-Young Master is absolutely not such a person······."
"Torres, I did not ask you. I will not forgive the act of interrupting again."
At Lucas's warning, Torres shut his mouth.
Once again, Lucas's cool gaze touched Jesse.
"I ask once more, did you become a dog of the demons?"
He felt wronged.
He rejected him approaching him.
Of course, he was briefly tempted by his proposal.
But Jesse refused.
Because he realized that compared to Professor Lucas, the strength he spoke of was nothing.
Just because of you, Lucas, I refused that sweet proposal.
However, those words, that excuse could not pop out of his mouth.
He felt wronged.
"Answer, Jesse Athlon."
"I did not do such an act as you think."
He barely spat it out of his mouth, but would Lucas believe him?
Would there even be trust towards him in Lucas?
His heart was becoming endlessly heavy.
However, at that moment.
"I will believe you."
"······."
Why do just three words, 'I will believe you', touch the heart like this.
"Sob."
Why can I not control the flowing tears.
"Jesse, there is work you have to do for me."
***
Dark night.
A darkness visited the dormitory where students reside.
He roamed the dormitory without any hindrance.
His steps stopped in front of a certain room.
{Room 308}
It is the very place where the planned work went wrong a little while ago.
He opened the door and stepped inside the room.
Although darkness had settled, it could not stop his movements.
Groan-
Groan-
Groans are heard at regular intervals.
'Is he still resisting.'
Anew, the potential of Jesse Athlon, the owner of this room, felt terrifying.
'But even that ends now. A while ago, the work went wrong because of some stupid guy but······ there will be no second mistake.'
I will completely erode Jesse Athlon with demonic energy and make him into a puppet that follows only my orders….
He moved his steps slowly and approached the bedside of Jesse Athlon who was spitting out groaning sounds.
"Now you will become my precious warrior. Accept it, Jesse Athlon."
Demonic energy more pitch-black than darkness rippled in his hand.
Now, the moment this hand touches, Jesse Athlon will be completely eroded by demonic energy and reborn as a Demonic Warrior.
He will mix among people ordinarily and become an aid to Glasco's invasion plan, and when that day finally arrives, he will stand at the vanguard and slaughter countless people.
His hand approached towards Jesse Athlon.
However, at that moment.
"Stop. If you move even a little······ I cut."
A cool voice that would surpass even the chill of the underground dug into his ears.
As if his whole body was bound by something, he couldn't move a muscle.
'Damn it!'
What revealed itself in the darkness was Lucas.
Eyes cold to the point of freezing were piercing through his abyss.
"Superintendent of Deckard Hall, Illuid."
His name flowed from Lucas's mouth.
·····It's over.
But Illuid turned around wearing a sneer.
"Hmph. It is laughable, Lucas. You absolutely······."
Slash-
In an instant, his arm was cut off.
"Aaaargh-!"
"I would have said I cut if you move even a little."
"Kh… heh… Kh… heh…!"
It was pain of a different dimension.
It was painful as if all the pain in the world was gathered in one place.
"I will ask."
At this time when his mind was becoming faint, Lucas's question touched his ears.
"Your main body······ that is, where is your master."
In an instant, a shock huge enough to make him forget all pain covered Illuid.