The underground room was eerily silent. Alec stood in a corner with his arms crossed behind him, stopping his back from making contact with the cold rubble walling. He noticed the room's eerie silence to be amplified by its almost liminal decor. A simple bed and a chair, nothing else... It was desolate, making him wonder what it was actually used for.

Across the room, several meters away was Professor Emma. She was sitting with a grim expression on her aged face. Her hand resting on her lap as her mouth hung open, seemingly trying to formulate the rest of her sentence.

"That was demonic taint," she had said. Although she looked like she would continue, her mouth shut closed, waiting for Edward's reaction first.

Shifting his gaze, Alec wanted to gauge his friend's feelings. He hoped that Edward wouldn't be too harsh on himself. However, once he saw his face, Alec realized this was too big of a wish.

Edward was crying. However, his expression was that of blazing fury instead of sadness. Alec could see him gritting his teeth in absolute fury inside his mouth. His facial muscles contracted under his skin visibly, seemingly trying to figure out a way to relay his emotions.

"Demonic taint, you say," he growled under his breath. Nonetheless, Edward closed his eyes and flared his nostrils, taking in an unnatural amount of air. Then he held his breath for ten, gruesomely long seconds before letting it go. Finally, he started muttering hymns and chants that Alec couldn't make sense of.

For a second, he tried his damndest to understand. Only then could he realize the effects of the anti-meme. The reason he couldn't understand was that it was being blocked by the entity, very severely at that. Funnily enough, Alec thanked the anti-meme for that. If not, he would be twitching on the ground, once again jumping ship into his ark that was the mana brain.

Still, he had a question that needed answers. How could Edward be mouthing those chants? It didn't seem like he was being mind-wiped by the moment, so how?

It took Alec a good bit of time to figure out.

Even Edward didn't know what he was chanting. The words were scratched into his very being, so attached to his mind that he didn't even know their meanings while chanting. Instead, it seemed to invoke certain emotions in him. The words coming from his mouth didn't carry meanings but emotions, a form of sound technology...

Shortly after, Alec managed to feel it too. Edward chanted with such fanaticism that his voice seemed to transform slowly, causing Alec to feel breathless. He wanted to join the chant but didn't know how to.

"The zealotry of the Spellson family..." Professor Emma muttered, a tear flowing down her cheek. She clasped her hands together into a praying position and closed her eyes, listening to Edward's chants.

In confusion, Alec looked at Edward once more. He seemed like he was shining in brilliance.

"The Hierophant..." Alec muttered. Being a web novel author, he had familiarized himself with some arcana and tarot cards, just in case he would need to ass pull some symbolism where it was needed.

But now, he felt as if he was facing the embodiment of the card. A shining, religious, and ideological leader. An exoteric zealot adept at pulling others to his side…

Alec listened to the chants and hymns of Edward with serene calmness. Once it was finally over, the smell of cedarwood covered the room, almost wrangling away the smoke of the incense inside Alec's wrist compartment.

When Edward opened his eyes, that gentle calmness of his was back. Professor Emma, too, opened her eyes and smiled.

"No demonic emotion would affect such strong belief. It was probably caused by an outer effect..." she said. The now-calm Edward looked at her and asked.

"I only know of demonization from emotional instability. What would be the outer effects, may I ask?"

This was a question that intrigued Alec too. Was it related to the demonic incursion at the end of the-

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'Wait. Why do I remember this? I'm not inside the library...' Alec thought. He looked around, mildly worried that something was wrong. The shackles around his mind were loose, too loose at that. The incense was nowhere near strong enough for this. Was the anti-meme becoming weak incredibly fast? 'No, that's not it... That would bring a lot of side-effects with it.'

Then, Alec lifted his head and smelled the cedarwood smell once again.

'Oh.'

'Whatever Edward did, it loosened the shackles temporarily,' he finally understood. Although risky, this was to their benefit. After all, it would make talking about demons and the lump on Edward's arm much easier.

"There are two outside factors that can cause demonization without emotional overflow," Professor Emma started explaining. Emotional overflow was the term generally used for the phenomenon of being demonized through the instability of the mind. Now that it was mentioned, Alec noticed his knowledge of demons to be lacking. Other than that little fact, he knew nothing. Which made him include the topic on his list of anti-memed stuff.

"The first is through contact. Demons carry inexplicable diseases alongside an endless amount of cursed aura. Getting splattered with their pus, blood or any bodily fluid might cause it to spread," she said. Alec barely held himself back from sighing. From what was mentioned in the journal, there was a good chance of that being the case. Getting drenched in demon juices wasn't really that hard of a feat, especially considering how harsh the battle was mentioned to be.

"That seems hardly plausible," Edward said while caressing his chin. From their perspective, this was true. The shackles being relaxed didn't mean their memories coming back, after all. If the memory was in their head and they were just ignoring it because of the anti-meme, they would remember. If not, and the memory had been entirely deleted, they wouldn't remember the demonic incursion. "So I would like you to continue with the second possibility."

"Indeed, Sir Spellson," Professor Emma said. Before she could continue, however, Edward stopped her.

"There is no need to call me that. In the academy, I am but a mere student," he said. Professor Emma nodded and changed her way of addressing him.

"Alright, Mr. Edward. As you have stated, it is nigh impossible for you to contract demonization through contact. After all, there are no demons in the academy, and I assume you haven't been going out to wander around in the middle of the semester," she said.

"Definitely. That brings us to the second possibility," he said. Alec knew he was leaving them in the dark and that could cause them to arrive at the wrong conclusion, but there wasn't much he could do. He could always pull Edward along to the team but that had its own problems. The biggest being Edward's responsibility as the student council president.

Although he would definitely be a big asset, increasing their authority and reach over the school by a good amount, he would also bring a lot of restrictions. Edward was a very principled and traditional person. He would probably boss over them nonstop. Also, Alec had decided to increase his authority by achieving scientific advancements for a reason. Edward's help was unneeded and expensive, which stopped him from helping him out. There was no choice but to listen to the second possible reason.

"You see, the second possibility is quite similar to the first one. However this time, instead of skin contact, it comes from digestion," the professor continued. This caused both Alec's and Edward's ears to twitch. "It is much more possible that you accidentally consumed some demonic substance."

"What does that mean, Professor? How could I consume such disgusting substance without noticing? Is it that someone slid some into my food?" Edward asked, baffled. Alec was even more confused. There were a lot of things on his "appetizing" list and demon pus or blood wasn't exactly on the list. Let alone tasting it, the smell was enough to make him frown in disgust.

"Umm... Not exactly, I think..." Professor Emma hummed indecisively for a moment, looking at Alec out of the corner of her eye. Seeing her hesitation, Edward sighed.

"Alec Greenwood is a trustable man. I wouldn't have chosen him as the head of the disciplinary committee if not. Not to mention the fact that he is an incredible asset to the magical academia. Whatever you are about to say, him knowing it is not a problem," he assured the elderly woman. Hearing his words, there was no need for her to worry anymore.

"You see..."

"There have been these... 'substances' circulating in the academy lately," she said. While Edward was expressionless, Alec's heart jumped.

'There's no way... Right?' he couldn't help but ask. He released his crossed arms and shifted in his place, maintaining his composure.

"These 'substances'... They are what you would call potions. Incredibly effective at that. We deem them to be about three times more effective than their traditional counterparts," she went on to explain.

'Holy shit...' Alec barely held himself back from saying out loud.

"And these, 'Potions'... They contain a serious amount of demonic substances. Although it is refined really well, a minuscule amount of people can have allergic reactions like that and become demonized. Or at least show signs of demonization."

An eerie smile appeared on Edward's face. However, Alec could sense the murderous intent behind that smile.

"I see... So these 'potions' somehow made their way into my food or drink, you say?" he asked.

"It seems so..."

"Do not worry, Professor Emma. I shall catch the vermin who dare stain the holy academy grounds," Edward said with shining vigor.

His mouth twitching involuntarily, Alec couldn't help but curse in his head.

'Fuuck!'