Alice's sudden question threw Azrael completely off balance.
He quickly regained his composure, fighting back his shock. He grinned and joked, "Who in the Empire of Aetherlight would dare to force me? Could it be Lord Lioren?"
Lioren was one of the few Sovereign-level Lore Cardians in the nation. Indeed, Lioren was probably the only person in the country with the authority to force him to do something he didn't want to do.
Of course, that was just what he would say outwardly.
Alice wasn't fooled by his deflection, though. Instead, she stated firmly, "Someone forced you."
He didn't know how his senior sister had figured this out, but he certainly wouldn't admit it. Furthermore, he wasn't sure exactly how much the tall woman before him knew.
Keeping this in mind, Azrael feigned confusion and asked, "Senior Sister, why do you think that?"
"No one forced me."
In this situation, he could only first inquire about Alice's reasoning and then devise a way to smooth things over. A direct confession was out of the question; he didn't want things to spiral out of control.
However, it felt like the situation was already vaguely beyond his control.
After a moment of silence, Alice recounted a minor incident from earlier in Donglai: "In Donglai..."
"You used your ability on them."
Hearing this, Azrael was stunned at first, then he began to recall what his senior sister had mentioned. If he remembered correctly, he had only met Alice once during his time in Donglai. That was when a secret realm suddenly appeared in Liyue County.
In order to resolve the threat posed by the secret realm, he had no choice but to ask his senior sister to go to Donglai and provide cover. Ultimately, Azrael broke through the secret realm with the help of his newly created Aizen.
"Wait, Aizen." At this thought, Azrael paused, muttering to himself, "Kyōka Suigetsu."
He remembered having Aizen unleash Kyōka Suigetsu on Godfrey and Diesel right in front of Alice back then.
"Senior Sister, did you notice?"
Azrael hadn't expected Alice to be able to detect such a subtle detail. As a Gold-level Lore Cardian at the time, he had underestimated Diamond-level Lore Cardians.
"But based on that alone, Senior Sister shouldn't be able to conclude that someone forced me."
A new doubt welled up in Azrael's mind. Suppressing it, he asked with slight bewilderment, "Senior Sister, what do you mean?"
Playing dumb seemed like a good option at this point. He could have explained that he had just arrived in Donglai and was unfamiliar with the area and that allowing Aizen to use Kyōka Suigetsu was merely a backup plan.
However, Alice, assuming he didn't understand, calmly explained, "Hypnosis."
"You used it on them."
Azrael felt frustrated for a moment. From his senior sister, he had learned just how devastating sincerity could be as a weapon. Alice had completely blocked his attempts at playing dumb.
Still, he chose not to answer directly. Instead, he asked, "Senior Sister, why do you think there's a connection between my hypnotizing them and someone forcing me?"
"You admit it."
"?
Azrael was about to retort when a pale hand stopped him. "I'm not,"
Alice lowered her hand and gazed down at her lap. Although only half of her hand was visible beneath her skirt, she whispered, "Kavach and you have both suffered two assassination attempts.
"Not by the same group."
Previously, in Donglai, the vice president and president were assassinated in quick succession. Those unaware of the situation would likely think the two incidents were connected. But Alice had investigated.
She didn't know who had attacked Azrael the first time, but she knew that the second attack on Kavach had been carried out by the Crimson Oath Society.
"Junior Brother."
"You are Bruce."
"Is that right?"
At the word "Bruce," Azrael's heart skipped a beat and his knuckles turned white from slight tension. Even before he heard Kavach's name, he had a sense of foreboding. Sure enough, Alice had unleashed her ultimate move.
Facing his senior sister's gentle interrogation, Azrael scratched his cheek and laughed dryly.
"Senior Sister, stop kidding around. How could I be Bruce?"
But when he saw her staring intently at him, his voice trailed off. He wailed inwardly, "This is bad! My cover's been completely blown."
In response to his reaction, Alice simply pursed her lips and maneuvered her perfect form to sit beside him. The young man felt his hand being gently lifted and enveloped in softness.
"When you go to Donglai, Bruce appears there.
"When you leave, Bruce disappears."
"The Crimson Oath Society also assassinated Kavach, who had a conflict with you."
What Alice didn't mention was that, according to her investigation, Bruce hadn't harmed the Association since his arrival. In fact, he had helped them by informing the Donglai Cardian Master Association of the presence of Emerald-level demons in the secret sea realm.
Furthermore, how could the Crimson Oath Society have quietly acquired such a brilliant Lore Cardian? Fortunately, Bruce's activities had largely been confined to Donglai. Aside from Alice's investigation, he hadn't attracted anyone else's attention.
Upon hearing these words, however, Azrael's first reaction was that such a long and difficult sentence was a bit embarrassing for Alice. But he quickly suppressed his wandering thoughts.
After a long silence, Azrael took her hand and said calmly, "It's okay. No one is forcing me.
"Trust me, okay, Senior Sister?"
I won't do anything to let my teacher down."
This was Azrael's honest truth. He knew that he and Jin would eventually clash; it was just a matter of time. After all, he had long been labeled a follower of Master Lucian. Had he not become a member of the Crimson Oath Society by chance while he was still a Black Iron-level Lore Cardian, he would probably be agonizing over how to catch Jin now.
Now, however, he had successfully climbed to a high position in the society and could still reap some benefits from it.
Sooner or later, though, Azrael would turn on Jin and make him an enemy of Honnōji.
Alice felt the warmth of his hand and said nothing. She just looked at the young man beside her quietly.
After a long pause, Alice finally murmured a low, barely audible response.
"Mm."
Then, she gazed at Azrael with emotionless eyes. Her tone showed a rare flicker of emotion as she said, "Remember to come to me if you need anything.
I don't want to be alone anymore."
She chose to respect her junior's decision.
Hearing this, Azrael nodded heavily and said solemnly, "I know. Don't worry."
As his words fell, the living room fell silent.
A moment later, Alice stood up and whispered, "I'll leave first."
"My class will start soon."
After seeing Alice off, Azrael breathed a sigh of relief. He had never imagined revealing his true identity to Alice in Donglai. Fortunately, the outcome wasn't so bad.
He buried his face in the sofa, mumbling, "It feels like I'm becoming more and more of a scumbag."
Thank goodness his conversation with Alice had been sincere.
"Really..."
How could it have come to this?"
"Azrael, I'm so glad you're okay."
In Gaza Town, a short-haired woman smiled and patted the shoulder of the young man beside her.
"You've been missing for so long. I was planning to burn paper for you next year."
The two people were, of course, Azrael and Wendy.
Azrael curled his lips at this. "Wendy, remember to burn more for me. I'm afraid inflation is rampant down there."
He recalled the largest bill he had ever seen from Celestial Bank was for ten billion Empyrean dollars.
Upon hearing Azrael's words, Wendy laughed heartily, her mouth wide open, completely unconcerned about her appearance. "Hahaha, of course."
When the laughter died down, Azrael got down to business. "How did the siege go?"
Since he had been teleported to Great Britain, Azrael didn't know what had happened after the siege. However, since returning to Gaza Town, he had noticed a slight chill in the atmosphere and a few unfamiliar faces. It seemed that things hadn't gone well.
Upon hearing Azrael's question, Wendy's cheerful expression instantly faded. She continued with a hint of bitterness: "The city lost quite a few people.
"But many of them perished in that Deathmatch."
After Master Fujimaru arrived, there weren't any more casualties."
Azrael wasn't surprised by Wendy's words. After all, he had observed in the Deathmatch that, as long as a Lore Cardian survived, demons would constantly attack them, especially those from the enhanced classes. Those who survived were either skilled at hide-and-seek, like Wendy, or incredibly powerful Lore Cardians who could withstand repeated rounds of battle without losing.
Of course, there were also those who could simply break through the Deathmatch, like Azrael.
Azrael sighed for a moment.
After a pause, Wendy composed herself, returning to her usual carefree demeanor. "I'm glad you're back, Azrael.
"Otherwise, I'd have to adapt to a new partner all over again."
She naturally preferred Azrael, whose proven skills and experience working together were reliable, over a newcomer with whom she had no chemistry and no idea what to expect.
"That's right." Azrael nodded in agreement, then sighed. "So, it's our turn to go on a mission again?"
Wendy sighed and said, "Yeah."
"After all, that stronghold has disappeared. If we want to obtain the experimental data, we have to explore again."
The target stronghold of the last siege turned to dust with Master Fujimaru's attack. Fortunately, many surrounding demon strongholds had suffered a devastating disaster as well.
In retaliation, the demon army recently mobilized a large number of troops to the border. Although a major battle between the Northern Defense Army and the Demon Army was inevitable, the Northern Defense Army was trying to gather information about the demonization experiment. However, they could no longer launch a large-scale siege like before.
"Let's go. Get to work."
Wendy shook her head and took Azrael away.