Every powerful country had its own Special Exorcists.

If a Special Exorcist appeared in a smaller country, stronger countries would bribe them behind the scenes to move to theirs.

Paris was born and raised here in Sun Country, so she was a Special Exorcist of the country.

Sometimes she wished she hadn't become a special exorcist because it had revealed the crueler side of the world to her.

She was obsessed with justice. But her naïve younger self didn’t know how the world worked. So later, she had to sacrifice some things to build up on her special ability.

Paris’ main affinity was Master; to manifest the justice-oriented ability she wanted, she had given up on taming demons. It was one of the many limitations on her ability.

The king's brother, Mango, coughed. "Anyway, let's continue the meeting. This time we're gathered here to discuss the recent massacre in the Expert Exams."

Some might expect the discussions between these people of power to get heated. But no one said anything in the room. Most didn't seem surprised by the news.

"I don't know what the fuss is all about. We should just slaughter their rising prospects. No one says anything, and we move on." Kazuo, the head of the Kuro Clan, said that. He had dark hair and eyes and seemed almost bored. Not only was he the Kuro Clan Head, but he was also the 16th strongest Special Exorcist, called: The Tower Exorcist.

Though Paris was here as a bodyguard, she knew she wasn't needed. Most of the people here were Clan Heads, with some Nobles here and there.

On the surface, it might seem like a balance between Exorcist Clans and Nobles. But in reality, the Exorcist Clans had almost all the power.

Many liked to think of money and political power as actual power. But these Exorcist Clans had the power of absolute violence backing them. There was no mere mortal who would dare speak out.

If the Seimei Clan were still around, things might have been different. But nowadays, the Royal Family was forbidden even to learn Ord.

No written law said the Royal Family couldn't learn Ord. But no one in that family dared break this unspoken rule. The Exorcist Clans insisted on the Royal Family not learning Ord under the pretense that the Exorcist Clans would protect them.

None of the Exorcist Clans wanted the Royal Family even to get the chance to fight back. Anyone with half a brain knew that.

If things continue as they were, the Raion Clan or the Kuro Clan would rule the country. Of course, the Royal Family would have an 'accident' and would all die.

"I agree. Killing every foreign exorcist on the exam sounds like a good idea," Leo of the Dark Sword Clan agreed. "But that will start a war."

It was hard to tell whether Leo was on the Kuro Clan's side or not.

"We should wait a bit before deciding. There's something fishy about this situation," said the Raion Clan Head. He had silver hair and blue eyes and had quite a handsome appearance. They were a clan known for their handsome exorcists.

Though recently, the Raion Clan had been in a pinch. Since there was no Special Exorcist in their midst.

If it weren't for the fear of the Dark Sword Clan sweeping the aftermath, the Kuro Clan would have attacked the Raion clan already.

...

The discussion continued, but it led nowhere.

There was no doubt in Paris' mind that most here would do something behind the scenes. Of course, they tried their best to make sure they wouldn't reveal their intentions here.

After the meeting, Paris' job was to escort the King's brother back to the capital.

Initially, she had started investigating him because of Kon's request. Paris had found very little during the investigation, and the only thing that stood out was a couple of bribes occasionally.

But Paris wasn't stupid and had noticed a couple of smudges on that 'clean' image. Though she could already kill him, doing so when she was guarding him was a bad idea. Also, she wanted to confirm he was a wicked man and not just kill someone for petty crimes.

Though Paris' ability could kill almost anyone who even littered, she would never use her ability on someone like that.

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After they arrived at a local expensive hotel, Mango turned toward Paris and waved her off. "You can leave now. I have some private business to attend to."

With private business, he probably meant prostitutes. Most higher-ups were degenerates like that.

If this were any other Special Exorcist, even the Royal Family wouldn't dare act so disrespectfully and dismiss her. But Paris was in a unique position. Unlike most of the Special Exorcists, a lot of the higher-ups didn’t consider her as dangerous to them as the others of her rank.

Because of her special ability, and a little of her own coercing, the higher-ups believed that her ability worked within the written law.

The Royal Family and Nobles have legal immunity on paper. They felt above the laws and had made specific laws just so they could keep her like a guard dog and remove her fangs against the nobility.

There were many ridiculous laws due to her. Like, the 21st Special Exorcist isn't allowed to betray the Sun Country or use her ability against the Nobles.

She had played along with them. But these laws were unfair, and her special ability didn't even take them into account.

'But as long as I continue giving them the illusion that they work. I could kill as many Nobles and Royal Family members as I wanted. While they continue to be careless around me!'

She almost smirked at the thought, but now wasn't the time. "Of course, Prince Mango."

She walked off. But as soon as she turned a corner, she turned to sneak around and spy.

Then she waited as Mango brought a couple of young girls into the luxury hotel. Paris took out two knives and went behind the hotel. Then she slapped a Translucency Talisman on her arm.

She jumped up and imbued Ord into the knives. They were cheap weapons she had bought in a nearby town, so they couldn’t be tracked.

Then she stabbed into the wall and used the knives as handles. One step at a time, she slowly arrived at the floor where Mango was.

Then Paris sneaked through a small bathroom window and stuck to the ceiling.

Then she fell into a handstand and made no sound as she slowly rolled into a crouch. Then she removed her shoes so they wouldn’t make any sound as she approached the keyhole and put her ear next to it.

There was no sound of the girls being there. Either they were unconscious or dead. When she thought of the latter, Paris' heart shook. But she reasoned that with her still in the vicinity, Mango wasn't dumb enough to kill someone with her around.

Even if he assumed Paris couldn’t use her ability on him, she could easily kill him without an ability.

"Thank you for coming all the way here, Lord Leo. As expected, the Dark Sword Clan is always a friend of the royal family," Mango said.

"You don't need to call me Lord. I'm not the Clan Head," Leo said. His voice lacked emotion, and he spoke like a monotone robot.

If Paris didn't know any better, she would assume he sounded kind of bored.

"Then I will call you sir Leo," Mango said. "As you know, I have invited the Shi Clan to act as a screen against the real killers in the exam."

"I didn't think you had the authority to use the silver-haired vessels," Leo didn't seem surprised by this.

Silver-haired vessels? The first thought that came to mind was the silver-haired team from the Expert Exams. They were the killers?

Also, what did Leo mean by authority?

Paris put all the points together and reasoned they likely were part of some kind of organization. Mango must be at a lower level than Leo in said secret group. Otherwise, why would he address the brother of some Clan Head with so much respect?

"Well, the research department needs more funding. As long as we kill many of the younger exorcists, then the Nobles Faction will have no choice but to put more resources into the research of human-demon hybrids." Mango explained with glee. "Then we can use foreign powers as an excuse! While raising a new type of exorcist!"

The King's brother was playing the other countries, using them as scapegoats.

So all that murder in the exams was just so some people could have more money to research?

Any logical man would blame the foreign countries for this incident. It seemed like this secret organization didn't care about any of the deaths war would cause!

When the countries went to war, under the threat of extermination by foreign powers, the Nobles would fund the so-called Half Demon Experimentation and get funding.

"Yes, yes, this all makes sense," Leo waved his hand. Then he offered a handshake to Mango.

The royal's face brightened, and he smiled; he reciprocated the handshake. "Thank you for your support. With you, I'm sure we-"

Boom!... Mango's body exploded in a mess of chunks. A small barrier stopped any chunks of blood from reaching Leo. "You fucking bastard! Did you think I would laugh it off after you put my son in danger?"

Leo opened his eyes, and Paris realized his smile wasn't so friendly looking. Instead, it showed that it was a twisted smile filled with unbridled rage!

"Honey, what's done is done. No need to be so angry," a sweet feminine voice came from the bedroom.

A woman came out, and Paris recognized her. She was Leo's wife, and she had seen her once when delivering Kon’s injured body back to the clan.

But except for her voice, nothing else about her was gentle. The woman was carrying two decapitated heads by the hair, one in each hand. They looked like prostitutes’ heads.

'They're going to get rid of all the evidence.' Paris concluded.

Now was her time to get out of there before getting found.

But as Paris turned around, she saw a grape-shaped demon of human heads.

"Honey, it seems like we have a rat in here," the woman's sweet voice said from behind the door.

Fuck! She had been caught!

The bathroom door creaked open, leaving Paris with no escape. A man and a woman stood before her, their smiles appearing harmless but sending a shiver down her spine.