Chain remembered the day his village was destroyed by demons as if it were yesterday. Every time he closed his eyes, he could still smell the blood and taste the fear.

At least his father had died fast, trying to fight the demons from entering their home.

He had to hide under the cupboard as his mother and older sister got ripped apart and tortured by demons. They died horrible deaths. All he did was watch.

Chain regretted that day. Something killed his family and tortured them in front of him. He couldn't even move! A coward!

The headmaster had saved him. Even back when Chain was a kid, the annoying headmaster was old.

He smiled at the memories and stared straight at the three high class demons. "My chains were made to fight against demons."

And to keep my cowardice chained forever!

Four hovering chains appeared from his back. They were the thickness of someone's head. Silver colored and shining with dense Ord imbued into them.

Chain cracked one of his fingers and glanced toward the students. Amongst them, Bets stood out as he was the tallest, and most muscular. He looked like one of those berserkers from stories.

Then Chain's gaze wandered around and he finally found the weak point in the circle.

Fwish!... His chains moved faster than ever before, creating whooshing sounds as if they were whips.

Demon flesh ripped, blood spilled, and organs scattered. Creating an opening in the encirclement. It happened in a split second.

"Run toward the opening! Follow Bets! He will lead you to safety! Now fuck off you dumb brats!" He yelled out at his students.

Chain knew that despite his brutish looks, Bets was an intelligent young man. He had, after all, tied for first place on the written part of the entrance exam.

Some demons try to intercept the escaping students. But while doing so they turned their backs on Chain. He used that opportunity to rip them apart. At the speed his chains moved, it didn't matter that they didn't have sharp edges.

After more than half a dozen middle class demons died. The ground around Chain was covered in blood. A tunnel of dead demons formed in the encirclement.

Everyone got the memo, turning their back on him was a bad idea.

"How unexpected, a strong human," said the crow demon in a cawing voice. "Master said the teachers were only Expert Exorcists at best."

'Master?! Does someone control them? Or does it mean that multiple Beast Masters were working on this? There was also the chance of an Ultimate Class demon appearing. Demons of higher class can raw-power those below them to follow.' Each situation and assumption he made was an even worse situation than the previous one.

Something was happening behind the scenes! He had to hurry up!

Some middle class demons rammed toward Chain, one of them was a sturdy-looking bull with a lion's head.

Chain's ability allowed him to seal a demon's power as long as he could wrap his chains around them. The condition of that ability was that if he used it on anything other than demons. Well, he doesn’t know what will happen, but it can’t be anything good.

He didn't know the exact limits of his chains. But if an enemy knew of his ability, then it would be dangerous as there were quite some counters against that. For example, they could throw humans in his way. Or use humans as hostages.

"Ah, it seems like mid-class demons are almost useless against him. Master will be mad if he loses so many demons. It takes quite a while to gather them," input the beautiful girl.

There was a dangerous feeling about her that Chain couldn't quite put his finger on. But if she was roaming with demons, he doubted she was human. Though if she was human, the situation would turn for the worst. He would have to take her out first, to make sure.

'I have to make the first move. If they attack me all at the same time, that would be troublesome.'

Chain used his chains to grab onto one of the trees. Propelling himself toward the three high class demons.

He had never tried before if his chains could hold three high class demons at once. “Here he comes. It’s your turn, Bomc. Test out his abilities!”

Chain never liked high class demons. Most of them were always cautious despite being so strong.

A demon's lifespan was almost never-ending. So if a demon died it would be because they did something stupid. So most of them now test their opponent first, which is annoying as hell.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

‘You're high class demons who're naturally stronger than humans in any physical way. So why do you also have to be so damn cautious?!’

The lanky demon with a body that was made of a dark material jumped down to meet him halfway. But Chain wasn't playing any games. He immediately went for the kill and wrapped one of his chains around the demon.

Still, it wasn't a high class demon for nothing. Its arm elongated and the demon grabbed onto a tree. Swinging itself away from the chain that was wrapping around it.

Chain maneuvered himself mid-air. But the battle was mentally draining as he had to keep an eye on the other two high class demons too. For now, they didn't seem like they would intervene, but that wouldn't be the case for long.

As he was thinking that, another porcupine-like demon shot out spikes toward him. A demon with a human body and the head of a fish blasted a torrent of water.

Suddenly, he felt pain in his leg and saw that a shadow dagger had morphed itself onto his thigh. Likely the ability of some demon that manipulates shadows.

Fwish!... Right then and there, Chain lost feeling in his left arm. He noticed that the high class crow demon previously perched up on the tree was no longer there.

An arm landed in front of Chain. It was his own arm. He grits his teeth. "Seems like I won't even be able to last a minute against everyone."

Though Chain had one ability in his repertoire that would help him. He was hesitant to use it usually since the price he would have to pay was too steep.

'Living doesn't matter any longer. I can now only hope that my fire keeps burning a little longer until those kids can get away. I will never be a coward again! These damned chains will lock my fear and cowardice!'

The Ord in his body bubbled up as every ounce of energy was drawn from his cells. From all the pores of his body, golden ripples came out. Ripples formed into chains the lengths of a hair strand.

Millions of those small chains contorted around Chain's body and formed into bright golden armor. The chains that were already sprouting out of his back got a spike at their tip and became golden.

"{Death Chain!}"

The Ord revolving around him made even the three high class demons hesitate.

"This Ord… it's crazy!" Yelled out the beautiful woman who was still on the tree branch. "Everyone! Be careful!"

The dark-bodied demon and the crow demon created some distance too.

Chain smirked under his new chain helmet when he saw this. This ability of his could only be used when his life was in danger and he was fighting against overwhelming odds. Every minute {Death Chain} was activated, will consume one year of lifespan from him.

Using their lifespan as power. It was something only the most skilled exorcists out there could do.

Though sometimes Creators were an exception. They had an easier time sensing their life force. Using their life energy for anything outside of one’s body, lifespan was sacrificed. That wasn’t something that could regenerate.

“Today seems like a good day to die,” Chain smiled wildly, like a cornered beast. He no longer cared about his own life.

‘I can’t allow any demon to pass through. Or else the students will be in danger!'

***

I'm terrified. One wrong move, one wrong word, and I'm dead!

Perfect Me was an ability created to survive this situation. To try and make my opponent interested in it. That way he would let me live.

Why did every Shonen Manga out there have some perverted strong guy that appeared early in the story?

Also, I got a strange chill down my spine as he looked at me.

Did he lick his lips again? I questioned my eyes for a bit. In the end, I decided to act like I didn't see anything. Ignorance was bliss!

"Do you know how many demons I control?" The demonic exorcist asked. Trying to entice me with a question like that so he could brag. I don't even know why he was still around.

Still, I knew from the scenes where he had attacked. "Around a hundred? A couple hundred?"

If the circumstances were right, there were very few exorcists who could beat him. It wasn't a matter of pure power either. It's that with so many demons on his side, most of them had their own special abilities. Yeah, there's a reason why he was considered one of if not the most wanted rogue exorcists in the world.

"Well, if you're talking about the demons I brought with me. Then you would be about right. But all the demons I control number around five hundred. Most are middle class demons. While I also have twenty high class demons, each of them with dangerous special abilities." The Demonic Exorcist stared into the distance and frowned. He probably sensed something he didn't like.

But I was still in a bit of shock. With that many demons, the country would have to call on all its Elite Exorcists to take him down. The Manga never stated any numbers of how many demons the Demonic Exorcist had. He just had a lot of them.

"In your class. What did you learn about how many demons can a Beast Summoner have?" The Demonic Exorcist smirked, noticing my shock at his announcement.

"There was no concrete number. But it wasn't suggested to have more than three demons or they could turn against you. Also, even if you had somehow deepened the bond where they wouldn't do that, the Ord the contract consumes would be too much after a certain number." I recited the book-level answer.

Was he lying? After all, he had shown that he wasn't the most trustworthy source. But at the same time, I saw no reason for him to lie.

But if he was telling the truth. How could he keep 500 demons under contract? Hell, now I'm wondering how he would even be able to keep 100 demons under contract.

"C'mon give me an answer, there's no need to think too hard on this," the demonic exorcist's hand twitched.

"I don't know," even with all the information from the Manga, I genuinely didn't know.

”Because it’s natural for me to be able to control a thousand demons! The madness in his eyes intensified so much that it seemed like it twisted the area around him. "Throughout heaven and earth, only I am the honored one! Ahahahaha!”

Laughing like a mad man, he walked away.

Yep, he was crazy. But as soon as the man was out of sight, the demons also withdrew from the area.

Finally, I allowed my body to relax and I fell to the ground. I realized how much my muscles were strained after I had used Perfect Me.

The smell of blood in the air, the half-eaten body of Mr Fort, and the decapitated head of Miss Rana.

Despite all this… It had turned out better than in the original timeline. There were four students who survived in this group.