A few days later, I was back at the Academy. I no longer needed, or bothered, to attend the other classes, as right now, with my current power level, I didn’t need to work on any more training or the classes offered by this place. I was far more powerful than the teachers and every other student here, and without Reeta, there really wasn’t a reason to do anything here.

However, I was still given an honorary title for reaching my power level—or rank, as they liked to call it—while being enrolled here, so there wasn’t a problem if I came to the campus. And right now, I was given permission to use one of the training fields that they had since there weren’t any classes taking place here.

The reason for being here? Well…

“Is this why you called me here?” Reeta asked with her arms crossed under her chest and a deep frown painted on her face. “I’m not interested in having a conversation with that pup.”

“The feeling’s mutual! Sexy-Wolf…!” Super-Demon followed up, matching Reeta’s gestures.

“I’ve told you enough times to not call me that!” Reeta loudly said, baring her large fangs at the skeleton, who took a step back.

“T-Trying to intimidate me, are you!?” he said, forcing a defensive stance. “W-well, I’m not one to—to run from a fight!”

Reeta smirked and lifted her chin as she looked down on Super-Demon. “A fight? Where would there be a fight here? The only thing that would happen here would be a wolf playing with some bones.”

“E-eeh?!” he exclaimed, but then his posture relaxed slightly. “That might not be such a terrible—No! Get your shit together Super-Demon! Don’t be tempted by her!”

Reeta looked at Super-Demon with disgust, and I couldn’t help but look at him like the weird person that he was. But after a moment I shook my head. “I didn’t bring you here to fight.”

“Then you’re wasting my time here,” Reeta said, shaking her head. “I’m leaving.”

“I need your help,” I said, causing Reeta to look at me with one narrowed eye. “And I think I need Super-Demon’s help as well.”

“What could you possibly need help with? You’re already much stronger than I am, and”—Reeta turned a glare at Super-Demon—“I doubt that such a stupid skeleton could help you with anything, especially when he’s not nearly strong enough to do so.”

“Hey!” Super-Demon shouted, “I’m strong enough to deal with anything, I-I just need more experience, that’s all…”

“That might be the case,” I followed up with a nod.

“Really…?” Super-Demon questioned, seemingly not expecting me to agree with him.

“You’re able to use Soul Magic, after all,” I said, giving him a serious look.

Super-Demon tilted his head to the side while crossing his arms. “I’ve never heard of such magic before.”

“It’s an extremely rare thing to have,” I said with a nod. “And I think you could do something special with it.”

A chuckle escaped from Super-Demon as he placed a hand on his chin. “I knew I was always special. Just the right kind of thing for a superhero.”

“Urgh,” Reeta replied with annoyance. “What does this have to do with me?”

With my gaze turned to her and her frown, I recalled what I had to do with Eletha and thought about the best way to go about it. “I might need help in the next mission.”

“Can’t you simply ask the government or even that Emperor from half-way across the world to help you?” She asked.

I shook my head. “They’re already getting things ready, but the part that worries me is the target. I’m supposed to… eliminate a new Hero of the Holy Gods.”

This time, Reeta’s eyebrows raised as she uncrossed her arms. “A new one? Well… that might be a bit interesting… I used to say that I always wanted to land my fist in the middle of the face of that Hero… You don’t count, by the way.”

“But I don’t want to kill her. I just want to cut her connection with the Holy Gods, which is why…” I said, turning my gaze over to Super-Demon. “I believe that with Soul Magic, there might be a way to do that.”

“Aha! So it’s about saving the life of a villain!” He exclaimed, slapping a fist on his open palm. “I’ll definitely help with this!”

“And you need someone that you can trust to help you with this, is that it?” Reeta followed up.

“Yes. However, I still don’t know how that might work,” I said with my eyes still set on Super-Demon. “Tell me, have you ever tried to influence another being without using that much power from your magic?”

“What? Like mind control or something like that?” Super-Demon asked, the glow on his eyes growing brighter. “Absolutely not—and I wouldn’t even try such a thing even if I could. People should be free to be as they are, and criminals should learn from their evil acts by themselves and change their ways without forcing them to do so with such means.”

“Yes, but in this case, the alternative is to kill that woman,” I said, giving Super-Demon a serious look.

“No, no, I’m sure that if you try your best to reach her; to touch her heart; to let her know the right way in life, that’ll you be able to turn her to the good side!” Super-Demon exclaimed while clenching a fist to the air.

“If things could be done in such a simple way, I would’ve done it from the start,” I said with a sigh and a shake of my head. “Sadly, I know all too well the kind of person that she is, and I know that she won’t turn on her actions unless we force her to… or… unless the Holy Gods turn Their back on her.”

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“Okay, fine,” Reeta said, waving away what I said and turning a glare at Super-Demon. “Then we just go and kill her while you keep yourself in delusion.”

“No! I won’t allow you to do that, Sexy-Wolf!” Super-Demon loudly said, taking a fighting stance once more. “I’ll show you! With my own powers, I’ll turn you to the good side, and I’ll turn that Holy Hero as well!”

“How? By beating me up?” Reeta replied with a smirk, taking a fighting stance of her own and creating a mana pressure that landed on top of Super-Demon. “I’d like to see you try!”

Super-Demon trembled slightly, but stood his ground. “I-I’ll show you.”

“Come on then!” Reeta shouted, the heated aura from the magic pressure that was coming from her aura increasing in power at the same time.

She didn’t move from her spot, seemingly waiting for Super-Demon to move before her. I moved back slightly from the training arena, and with a wave of my hand, activated one of the barriers that these had. A pale blue wall surrounded the zone, keeping us all inside, while I just stood to the side, waiting to see what might happen here.

However, as seconds passed, Super-Demon remained rooted in place, and I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

“No—N-nothing!” He exclaimed, “I’m just… reading her like a book! I-I have my strategy all set up! That’s right…”

“Heh. If you’re not going to come to me then… I’ll hunt you down!” Reeta shouted, bursting from her spot in Super-Demon’s direction.

However… she wasn’t going fast at all. I was able to easily see the path that she was taking, and while her powers weren’t at all weak, it was all just a magical pressure and nothing more. She had no intention of actually fighting. In the time that she was moving, I also had the time to look over at Super-Demon, who was frozen in place as Reeta was getting closer and closer. At this pace, he was going to be turned to pieces… even if Reeta had no intention of actually doing so.

Sure enough, she got to him, catching him by surprise as she grabbed him from his colorful shirt, causing him to yelp in surprise as she threw him to the other side of the arena, where he crashed with the barrier, staying there for a moment before slowly dropping down to the ground, landing head first.

I thought that Reeta was going to follow up on her action, but she just stood in place with a deep frown, looking down on Super-Demon for a moment and then to me. “Why did you even bother with this? That puppy is all bark and no bite. You’re wasting your time with this, and you’ll be better off finding another way to do what you want.”

I lowered my head and considered for a moment what she said. It was true that I was expecting something more from Super-Demon; that he would at least use the same power that he showed on the night that I found him… but it appeared like he wasn’t nearly as close to ready for real combat, at least not in the short them that I needed for what I was planning to do… So with tightened lips, I nodded.

“I think you’re right. Perhaps I should—”

“Now, wait a moment!” Super-Demon shouted, and I turned to look at him quickly standing back up. “I was just distracted by Sexy-Wolf’s appearance and personality, that’s all! I can show you my real powers now!”

“Don’t even waste your time. If you couldn’t handle me just now when I was going easy on you then—”

Suddenly, from Super-Demon’s body, a purple aura started glowing all around him, with his white glowing eyes turning just as purple as the air around him. I was surprised once more to see him use that power, and judging by Reeta’s raised eyebrows, she was just as surprised as I was.

“This is the power of true conviction!” Super-Demon shouted, getting his hands together as if he was holding an invisible ball and bringing them to the side of his hips.

A couple of seconds later, a light-purple orb formed between his hands, glowing brighter and brighter the more time went on, and I could feel the strange fluctuations of mana that were coming from his body.

“Ha!” he shouted, bringing his hands forwards while keeping the rest of his body still.

A beam of bright purple light was fired from the ball in his hands, burning the floor and the air around it as it made its way to Reeta. The beastkin woman didn’t move from her spot—even if she had the speed to do so—as she simply took a defensive stance and received the attack by raising her arms to her front and covering herself behind them like a boxer.

The beam washed over her for just a moment, until it eventually faded into a thin line of purple magic that dissipated soon after. The magic didn’t feel particularly powerful, but it gave off a strange mana signature that I had only felt before when I faced one of the dragons.

Reeta was standing in place with her arms still raised and the air burning all around her. It wasn’t nearly enough to move her from her spot, as expected. However, after a couple of seconds, her arms dropped to the side, and she fell to her knees, with her body finally crashing to the ground.

I urgently ran to her to see if she was alright. There was no way that something that weak could’ve possibly damaged her like this, much less drop her to the ground, but just seeing her like that was enough to know that it did. It seemed like Super-Demon also didn’t expect that as he exclaimed with a sharp intake of air and ran over here with quick steps.

“Oh fuck! Oh shit! Oh fuck!” he exclaimed, clutching his head. “I didn’t kill her, right?! She’s not dead, right?!”

I turned her over to have a better look at her, and with a quick glance all over her body, I realized that she wasn’t wounded. Not even her arms had any scratches or burns on them. She was apparently unharmed. I even went and tried to find her vitals, but she was still breathing, and her pulse was just as strong as ever.

“She’s alive…” I said with a low tone and a frown. “She’s just passed out…”

“Ah… Phew!” Super-Demon sighed in relief, placing a hand on his chest. “That’s good to hear. God! I didn’t think Sexy-Wolf would fall like this! She’s always been so strong and scary!”

I nodded along in response. He was right. She was far stronger than this, so I couldn’t understand why she suddenly passed out. Maybe if I tried to feel the mana around her, I could understand what happened. So I closed my eyes and focused on the magic around me.

There was the barrier around us, but that wasn’t strong enough to distract me, and it helped me in keeping other magic signatures around the campus away from this.

I sensed around Reeta. There still was the lingering aura from her powerful magic pressure around her body. I felt the slight power from what Super-Demon did just now clinging to her skin, but it wasn’t piercing it at all, so I sensed even deeper. Reeta’s magic power was there, just as powerful as it had always been, so it’s not like she passed out due to her magic running out…

Finally, when I reached somewhere inside her chest, I felt more of Super-Demon’s power, surrounding something else. It was quickly dissipating, making it harder for me to know exactly what it was, but just feeling this made me remember the first time I met Kralgorix. Super-Demon’s magic had struck directly at Reeta’s soul, and anyone that doesn't have a resilient soul was going to have it wounded.

“Should we take her to the infirmary? I’m willing to carry her,” Super-Demon said, but I opened my eyes and shook my head.

The magic inside Reeta was already disappearing. “There’s no need. She’ll wake up shortly.”

“Are you sure…?” Super-Demon asked, leaning closer over Reeta. “I wouldn’t mind carrying her.”

I turned a glare over to him and he backed away. “If that is necessary, then I will do it.”

“Okay, okay…” He said with his hands raised.

“Nhggg…” Reeta let out, her head slowly shaking from one side to the other as her face carried a pained frown.

“Ah, you were right,” Super-Demon said, taking a closer look at Reeta once more.

She finally opened her eyes and looked at me. “Did you knock me out again?”

I shook my head. “No. It was Super-Demon.”

She turned a questioning glare over at Super-Demon, before slowly standing up from her spot. With her hand placed on her temple while shaking her head, she sighed. “I guess I must’ve been really out of form to be knocked out like that…”

“I don’t think that was the case. His magic is a bit different and I think that—”

It was then that the doors to the building were opened and a handful of people walked in. The other people I had also called had finally arrived.