Haruto handed the photos back to Akeno with a puzzled expression. "Akeno-senpai, how did these photos end up in your hands? And why do we have to wait for the president to return to resolve this?"
Akeno retrieved the photos, conjuring a deep blue flame in her palm that consumed both the photos and envelope completely.
Only a few wisps of white smoke rose into the air—no odor or ash remained.
When the flames died down, both envelope and photos had vanished from this world without a trace.
Haruto watched with envy. This skill would be perfect for home use, travel, murder, arson, or disposing of evidence.
Akeno seemed to read his thoughts. "Don't even think about it. You can't learn this magic yet."
"When can I learn it then?"
"You'll need at least intermediate mage capabilities to grasp the Azure Flames basics."
"So this skill is called Azure Flames..."
Haruto grew even more envious—not only was it powerful, but the name sounded cool too.
"By the way, Akeno-senpai, basic mana extraction doesn't work on me anymore. Does that mean I'm an intermediate mage now?"
"Your basic mana capacity is already saturated?" Akeno looked at Haruto in surprise. "You've only been training for less than a month."
"Seventeen days to be exact."
Akeno approached Haruto and placed her hand on his forehead.
Haruto instinctively tensed, then gradually relaxed as he felt the cool, delicate softness of her small hand.
Akeno's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, her lips curving into a barely perceptible smile.
Just as Haruto found himself staring at her cherry-red lips mere inches away, fighting the urge to lean in, Akeno withdrew her hand.
"Indeed, your mana is saturated. You're ready for the next stage of training."
Akeno clicked her tongue in amazement. "Even I took over twenty days to reach this stage back then."
With her fallen angel heritage, she'd been born with mana and began formal training at six or seven when she could read.
It had taken her over twenty days to complete basic mana extraction.
"Your spellcasting isn't particularly impressive—did all your magical talent go into cultivation instead?"
Haruto shrugged helplessly. Compared to his reincarnation anomalies, this odd phenomenon was insignificant. Akeno was just teasing him playfully.
Akeno had actually detected the devil bloodline within Haruto too. Like Tsubaki, she mistakenly attributed it to his rebirth through Evil Pieces.
Similarly, when she noticed his devil aura didn't resemble the Gremory lineage, she didn't think much of it.
The Evil Pieces hadn't fully integrated yet—wasn't it normal for the aura to differ?
"The manual for intermediate mana extraction is kept at the student council. If you're in a hurry, I can recite it for you now. With your aptitude, you should grasp it immediately—it won't take much time."
"No need to trouble Akeno-senpai," Haruto said quickly with a grin. "I'll go to the student council myself later. Let's get back to what we were discussing before."
Just kidding, there's no way I'd let Akeno teach me on the spot. Until Haruto could acquire the intermediate mana extraction skill from someone else, he had no intention of going to the student council.
The title of magic prodigy still carried some weight, even if it was just for someone who excelled at cultivating mana.
"Fine, let's first talk about that killing incident of yours."
Akeno's slender index finger curled slightly as she lightly flicked Haruto's forehead. "Sigh, I truly didn't expect you to be so bold earlier. You look like such a quiet, delicate boy..."
Without waiting for Haruto's response, she continued, "My fault. I should have realized this when you had the audacity to take liberties with me before. I should have explained the rules to you earlier."
Haruto secretly curled his lip. If he had acted according to the expected tropes, the grass on his grave would probably be taller than a person by now.
Ever since his strength reached B-rank, Haruto had rarely pretended to be that easily bullied, meek persona anymore.
Unless it was for entrapment purposes.
He was never the timid, naive type to begin with.
Wanting to avoid unnecessary trouble, he naturally chose to present himself as strong and assertive, making those with ill intentions think twice before acting.
It worked—most of the time, at least. He rarely got randomly cornered by delinquents or harassed by older women.
But the moment he was seen with a pretty girl, blond-haired punks and cuckolding jerks would come sniffing around like hyenas catching the scent of prey, their eyes gleaming with greed as they sought trouble.
Haruto couldn't help but grumble internally, but he still listened carefully to what Akeno was saying—it was crucial for his next steps.
From her explanation, he roughly understood the relationship between supernatural beings and ordinary humans in this world.
He also realized why Akeno had said earlier that reporting the incident sooner wouldn't have been a problem.
First of all, there was no ridiculous rule forbidding supernatural beings from harming ordinary humans.
If provoked or harmed by a normal person, a supernatural being had the right to kill them outright.
However, they would still face some punishment.
But if subsequent investigations revealed that the supernatural being had acted with malicious intent—killing for personal reasons—the penalty ranged from execution to imprisonment, depending on severity.
When ordinary humans awakened supernatural powers, it was inevitable that some would develop ulterior motives.
Some were driven by greed, others by vengeance.
If they were natural awakeners—wildcards unaware of the rules—their punishment would be determined by the severity of their actions.
But if they were students of Kuoh Academy or supernatural beings affiliated with certain families, they fell outside the jurisdiction of ordinary human law. In such cases, punishment was determined by the rules of their respective factions.
Since Haruto was a student of Kuoh Academy, the matter had been brought to Rias.
However, Rias was still in the Underworld and hadn't returned yet, leaving Akeno, as acting club president, to handle the situation.
As for why reporting it earlier would have avoided trouble, and why it was now problematic…
That required a broader perspective—a matter of historical baggage.
This world was divided into three major realms, which together maintained its stability.
But beyond these three realms, there were other forces and immensely powerful entities.
All beings within the three realms were fundamentally tied to them. If the world were destroyed, even the strongest individuals would perish.
As for those who could transcend the entire world and stand above countless starry universes… none had appeared yet.
So, while infighting within the three realms was common, there was still a bottom line.
Otherwise, the gods and devils, who had once fought to the brink of mutual annihilation, would never have achieved peace so easily.
Let alone allowing a weak species like humans to occupy an entire realm.
The devil and god realms could interfere in the human realm, but they couldn't slaughter all humans or enslave them on a large scale.
The human realm was called the human realm precisely because humans ruled it.
If humans were ever replaced, the stability of the three realms would be affected.
The pinnacle of human strength in this world was the Hero Clan, whose greatest members possessed the power to defeat Demon Kings and Chief Gods.
But in terms of overall strength, humans couldn't compare at all.
The Hero Clan remained no larger than a single village, and humanity had yet to enter an era of widespread cultivation.
Akeno didn't explain the reason, but Haruto suspected it was because the gods and devils were working together to suppress humanity's development.
Humans possess immense potential, and their population far exceeds that of gods and devils. Although their lifespans are shorter, their strength grows rapidly.
Devil and god powerhouses often cultivate for centuries, while human experts at most train for thirty or forty years...
After becoming powerhouses, they still seek ways to extend their lifespans.
Yet overall, humanity remains the weakest, sometimes forced to make compromises.
Kuoh Academy and Kuoh Town being placed under Gremory's jurisdiction was one such compromise.
There have been many similar concessions.
Neither devils nor gods could ignore the human world's vast potential. Within their territories, humans with talent and potential fall under their management.
Especially after being reborn as devils or angels—no matter what crimes they commit—ordinary humans have no authority to judge them.
With privilege comes responsibility.
The Gremory family handles all rogue devils, man-eating monsters, supernatural incidents, or other paranormal events within Kuoh Town.
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