But the war between humanity and the Demon Race had ended more than ten years ago, with the Demon Race wiped out and the Demon King sealed away for good.
Humanity's era had thus entered the Saint Marian Era, an age without demons!
In this Saint Marian Era, with the Demon Race wiped out and the Demon King eternally dormant, was there any room left for heretics to survive?
Hadn't the Demon King in the original story still been mercilessly beaten after breaking free of his seal?
Worse still, he had been split into seven pieces, each of which was then whipped like a corpse!
Though this Demon God stood above the Demon King, what could a lone commander do?
If he were exposed, wouldn't he be as good as dead?
He'd be even worse off than the Demon King—at least the other guy had seven lives!
"Can you tell me how to fully awaken my Demon God Bloodline?"
[Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Bliss: these are the Seven Deadly Sins required for the Demon God of the Seven Original Sins to awaken!]
[Once any one of these seven indicators exceeds its critical threshold, the Seven Sins will be triggered, and the host's Demon God Bloodline will gradually awaken, irreversibly transforming the host into a Great Demon God!]
[Current awakening progress: 0%]
[Please complete the indicators as soon as possible!]
"Display the indicators."
[Yes.]
A moment later.
Seven indicators appeared in Dark's vision.
[Pride: 92]
[Envy: 39]
[Wrath: 93]
[Sloth: 71]
[Greed: 72]
[Gluttony: 52]
Dark's eyes swept over them, and his vision promptly went black.
Of the seven indicators, only Envy and Gluttony were slightly low. Every other one was over 70!
Wrath was as high as 93, practically glowing red!
"So I'm a lazy and arrogant, greedy and hedonistic, short-tempered piece of trash?"
"This makes no sense! The maximum has to be 1,000!"
[Kind reminder from the Demon God Assistance System: Under normal circumstances, the maximum value of a Sin Index is 120.]
[Now that the Demon God Bloodline has entered its awakening phase, the host will be more prone to corruption. Keep up the good work, and you'll exceed the critical thresholds for Pride and Wrath, fully awaken your Demon God Bloodline, and restore glory to the Demon Race!]
"I'll keep up the good work and do what to you, exactly?"
"No, no! I can't get angry. I absolutely can't get angry again!"
In the time it took his eyelid to twitch, his Wrath score had risen by a whole point!
Dark hurriedly held his breath and calmed his mind, thinking, Great Might Heavenly Dragon, World Honored Ksitigarbha, Prajna Buddhas, Prajna Bama Hum!
[Wrath +1]
"Shit!"
A few minutes later.
Dark realized that the seven indicators weren't fixed. Wrath was clearly the one that fluctuated most easily.
After doing his utmost to calm down, his Wrath score gradually fell back to 93.
But Sin Indexes such as Pride and Envy, which were rooted in one's nature, were incredibly difficult to lower.
As the saying went, "It's easy to change a country, but hard to change one's nature."
Even after recovering his memories of his past life, all he'd managed was to slowly bring Pride down from 92 to 91.
After all, he hadn't forgotten his memories from this life.
He really had spent over a decade as a noble young scoundrel!
That deep-rooted arrogance wasn't something he could get rid of in a short while.
Though he now understood himself clearly, it would still take a long period of self-discipline to change, bit by bit.
He had to lower all seven indicators below the standard threshold.
Otherwise, the slightest slip could cause the corresponding emotion to erupt and push its score past the critical threshold!
Extreme emotions were more likely to rise explosively.
And once they did, they were difficult to bring back down to their original levels.
Only by cultivating himself and keeping his pride, anger, resentment, delusion, greed, lust, envy, and sloth in check could he suppress the Demon God Bloodline of the Seven Original Sins and seize a chance to survive!
Dark had seen the light!
Starting today, I, Dark Dimon, will be a brand-new person!
[Please work hard to become corrupted and turn into a Demon God!]
"Get lost!"
[Wrath +1]
As Dark reached a profound realization, the Sorting Ceremony continued onstage.
One freshman after another was assigned to the academy best suited to them, and Noble House welcomed its new students as well.
But given the complicated relationships between the nobles, no one dared sit beside the duke's son.
Valkyrie Alvitr Saint Dimon had swept across the battlefield with overwhelming force. She had always hated evil and had wiped out countless demons. In the end, she'd even helped the Hero seal the Undead Demon King. Together, they were hailed as the Kingdom's Twin Swords and revered by all!
After the Hero sacrificed himself to seal the Demon King, Alvitr became the kingdom's greatest representative of pure military might!
Only a select few could match Alvitr: the principal of Saint Marian Academy, the pope of the Holy Church, the principal of Holy Rite Academy, and a handful of others.
If he hadn't awakened his Demon God Bloodline, Dark could rely on the Valkyrie's protection and enjoy a life of wealth and privilege as the future duke, no matter how awful he was.
"Damn this Demon God Bloodline!"
[Wrath +1]
"Keep calm. Keep calm!"
Dark hurriedly closed his eyes and emptied his mind, letting his turbulent emotions settle.
[Wrath -1]
"Hello. May I sit here?"
Dark kept his eyes closed.
"Then I'll sit down!"
"Heave-ho!"
"Hello! You're acting strange. Did you sleep badly last night? I have a Soul-Calming Curse card here. You can borrow it!"
Dark finally couldn't hold back from opening his eyes. In as calm and emotionless a voice as he could manage, he said, "Isn't Soul-Calming Curse a Magitech Card from the curse series? You use it to help you sleep?"
"Eh? Is that what it does?" Diana Greatbear asked in surprise.
With her little mouth slightly open, she looked truly adorable.
Dark's brow twitched. He suddenly felt his Primordial Force getting harder to suppress.
[Bliss +1]
"Shit!"
[Wrath +1]
"While the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was practicing the profound Perfection of Wisdom, he saw that the five aggregates were empty and overcame all suffering. Shariputra! Form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form; form is emptiness, emptiness is form. The same is true of feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra..."
Dark Dimon Didn't Know the Meaning of Envy
"Diana Greatbear. That's my name. What's yours?"
"Dark Dimon."
Greatbear, the Kingdom Bear!
Everyone in the Greatbear Family was born with immense strength. Men and women alike were as strong as brown bears!
But what was this little girl in front of him?
Diana Greatbear had just reached the age to enroll, yet she was even shorter than most children her age. After climbing onto her chair, her feet couldn't even touch the floor. Her chubby little face was so pink and tender it looked as though milk might drip from it.
It made people want to reach out and pinch her!
Stretch her cheeks, squish them flat, then stretch them again...
[Bliss +1]
[Greed +1]
"Wait!"
Dark suddenly thought of something.
"Could she be playing the role of Draco Malfoy's sidekicks in the game—Crabbe and Goyle?"
There weren't many idiots bold enough to buddy up to a duke's son as soon as they enrolled!
Damn this trash game. Every character was a girl!
Dark collected himself and decided that, for the sake of his own life, he had to keep more than a necessary distance from Diana.
There was one thing that Duel! Saint Marian Super-XX Academy had in common with almost every other gal game on the market: any female character who appeared and had a pretty character portrait was a romanceable character.
And from a player's perspective, romancing the beautiful girls around the villain was obviously tempting.
Besides, a gal game had to have a little girl character.
But none of that had anything to do with Dark.
He had no thoughts about Diana beyond pinching her cheeks.
Keeping his distance would also stop him from becoming addicted to pinching her cheeks.
At the beginning of his self-cultivation, avoiding temptation was the best approach.
And after what he'd experienced over the last ten minutes, Dark had completely lost faith in his own self-control!
He could keep his pride in check, but how was he supposed to rein in his restlessness and anger, his greed and lust?
Greed was the driving force behind human progress!
Procreation was a necessary act that existed to ensure the continuation of a species!
Dark was troubled.
"Emma Metis!"
"Knight Academy!"
"Sara Swati!"
Before you continue