Chapter 150 – The Apprentice Who Surpassed Kings
"I'm the one who should be apologizing," Rias declared, raising her voice just enough to silence the room.
Her crimson eyes surveyed the group—Akeno, Koneko, even Kiba. Each had taken turns blaming themselves for the chaos that erupted the night before. But it had been she, after all, who initiated the inquiry that drew Bai Yue's ire. Who sought the truth and tore open a door best left sealed.
"Stop it," she said more gently. "No more apologies."
Before anyone could reply, the clubroom door slammed open.
Standing in the doorway was the student council president, Sona Shitori—intelligent, elegant, and freezing cold behind her glasses. Rias sighed inwardly. Trouble had arrived wearing heels.
"Rias. You're going to explain what the hell happened last night and the night before!"
Sona strode into the room with clipped steps. Her tone wasn't a request—it was a summons.
A Fallen Angel had died. And though the school had quietly listed the deceased as a student for logistical reasons, the organization behind him demanded answers. He had been registered through official channels. His death wasn't just collateral—it was a provocation.
Of course, Sona cared little for the fate of a low-tier Fallen. But protocol was protocol. When supernatural beings died in her territory, she needed answers. And Rias's submitted report? Laughable.
She'd written that the angel insulted the Gremory name, and that she'd responded with lethal force.
Sona slammed two folders onto the desk—one for Bai Yue, the newly transferred instructor; and one for Aisha, introduced as his distant cousin and newly registered student.
Both looked plausible—too plausible.
Except for one problem.
The deceased Fallen had been dispatched to collect Aisha. And now, he was dead, and Rias was shielding the woman in question.
"You expect me to believe that?" Sona asked coldly.
Rias didn't blink.
"I killed him," she said. "He tried to harm Aisha. She's a gifted healer. I wanted her under my protection. He tried to strip her of her relic. So I eliminated him."
Her tone was clear. Unapologetic.
Sona narrowed her eyes.
"Elaborate."
So Rias did.
She explained how the Fallen, named Raynare, had planned to rob Aisha of the divine artifact embedded within her body. She explained how Raynare had killed a civilian. And how she, as the devil assigned to the region, was bound to intervene. The city was under her guardianship. Attacking humans was against her laws. That alone justified death.
As for Aisha? Rias declared her formally extracted from the Lost Devil Exorcist order. The girl had been lured in by deceit. She belonged here now.
Sona considered her words. Then nodded.
"Fine. I'll treat that as truth."
She turned sharply, preparing to leave.
But in her mind, the story wasn't over.
If Rias wouldn't explain everything—then she would investigate the new instructor herself.
Chapter 151 – The Novice Mage Who Defeated an Expert
After Sona left, Akeno turned to Rias with a thoughtful frown.
"You're really letting her walk away? Not even a warning?"
"She wouldn't listen," Rias said, rubbing her temple. "She'd just dig deeper. Besides, Sona is the future head of House Sitri. She'll find him eventually."
"Is that what you want?" Akeno asked teasingly. "To let your childhood friend suffer a little?"
Rias looked away.
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not that cruel."
But Akeno only smirked. Everyone knew Rias could be ruthlessly pragmatic when it suited her.
The truth was, if Sona tangled with Bai Yue, she'd be forced to cooperate with him eventually. And once she did, the burden of shielding him wouldn't fall solely on Rias's shoulders.
Two guardians were stronger than one.
It wasn't about protecting Bai Yue. He didn't need protection.
It was about minimizing the fallout when other factions discovered him.
If Bai Yue earned Sona's trust, all the better. The Sitri heir was a scion of one of the Seventy-Two Demon Pillars herself. Her bloodline belonged to the 56th—just like Rias's own Gremory line. Perhaps fate had already marked them both.
Would Rias inform her brother of all this?
She hesitated.
She trusted Sirzechs.
But if she told him, he might intervene.
Might escalate.
And that? She couldn't risk.
In the Gremory family villa, Akeno was puzzled by Bai Yue's injuries.
"What happened to your arm?" she asked.
"Ah… it's from studying magic," Aisha replied quickly, her tone far more formal now that she knew his true identity.
Akeno blinked.
"He's learning magic? What kind?"
She saw him at work—an ice spell, simple and devil-crafted.
Low-level. Harmless.
"Miss Himejima," Bai Yue said calmly. "Would you mind sharing any magical knowledge you have? From any faction. I'm gathering material."
"Any magic?"
"Yes. I have no restrictions."
Bemused, Akeno nodded.
"There's a library here. I'll help carry what we have."
"Thank you."
Aisha followed, eager to help.
What Akeno truly wanted, however, was clarity.
In hushed tones, she asked, "Is he really new to magic?"
Aisha nodded.
"He only started recently. His first spell was learned from a devil just days ago. But he cast it instantly. Almost instinctively."
Akeno stopped short.
"You're saying… he couldn't use magic before?"
"Yes. He replicates devil magic through analysis. That's how he casts."
Akeno's jaw slackened.
That was impossible.
To see a devil's spell and restructure it—not only enough to use, but to optimize?
She recalled last night's battle. The blinding lattice of magic arrays. The perfect sequencing. The way every spell unleashed its power at peak efficiency.
He hadn't used advanced spells—just countless basic ones, refined to perfection.
He was a prodigy beyond anything she'd ever seen.
More than Merlin. More than Azazel.
Legendary.
And if Aisha was right, he wasn't even truly using magic. Not in the traditional sense. According to some records, Solomon's spells were not his own—but the borrowed powers of his seventy-two demon contracts.
He had never wielded true magic before.
Until now.
Later, Akeno returned with an armful of grimoires and tomes. She placed them respectfully before Bai Yue.
"I'll ask the president to send more," she said.
"Much appreciated."
He opened the first book. Page one read:
The origin of magical power is imagination.
Intrigued, he read on.
Magic, it claimed, was the shaping of mana through sheer thought. Rituals existed for efficiency—but imagination could manifest power just the same.
The downside?
Imagination-based magic was unstable. Wasteful. Weak.
But structured magic—reinforced with incantations and formulae—allowed practitioners to summon stronger effects with less effort.
So that was this world's law.
Interesting.
If the fundamental rule of magic here was conceptual visualization, then perhaps he didn't need to study every ritual and rune.
He could integrate the techniques of his own realm.
Revive the spellcraft of the old world.
And—eventually—build an environment capable of reactivating his Noble Phantasms.
Some artifacts were bounded by principle.
Others? Worked anywhere.
The challenge was never the artifact.
It was the world around it.