"Not bad, Baron Batchelor. You've finally been honest for once."
Dekan clapped his hands in praise.
That confirmed Baron Batchelor's suspicion once again: Dekan could read minds!
Lies were meaningless in front of him.
He could tell what the baron truly felt!
"All right, your attack just now scared me and caused irreversible damage to my fragile heart. So you admit that you cruelly tortured me, right?"
Dekan continued.
Baron Batchelor didn't hesitate for long. He once again frantically deceived himself and replied, "I... I admit it."
He guessed Dekan was testing his loyalty, using lie-detection magic to adjust his teaching methods.
No matter how absurd Dekan's words were, he had to go along with them.
Dekan asked again, "Next, Cornelia tried to rescue me. You were kindhearted and decided to let me go, so she managed to save me. Do you agree?"
Baron Batchelor said, "I agree, I agree."
[Task Objective 2: Rescue at least three humans; current progress: 1/3]
The smile on Dekan's face grew even brighter. "Lastly, you suddenly forgot I was human, right?"
Baron Batchelor said, "Yes, yes!"
[Task Objective 3: No more than three impostors exposed as human; disguises intact: 6/6]
Just as Dekan had expected, the mission interface was changing.
"Excellent, Baron Batchelor. You're an honest demon now, and it seems you've finally opened your heart to me."
Dekan looked quite pleased and didn't hold back his praise for Baron Batchelor.
The baron trembled, not knowing how to respond.
To be fair, his fear of Dekan now eclipsed every other emotion.
But the words "opened your heart" were still too much.
He didn't dare disagree, so he could only keep hypnotizing himself: I've opened my heart. I've opened my heart.
Only after convincing himself that he even felt some admiration for Dekan did Baron Batchelor finally dare to answer, "Yes, I've opened my heart to you."
"Good! You're a quick learner!"
Dekan slapped his thigh and stamped his foot as he rose from his chair.
He'd finally succeeded.
Feeling delighted, he continued instructing Baron Batchelor. "All right, I'll have to trouble you with one more thing. You still remember our conversation just now and how you felt throughout it, don't you?"
"Huh?"
Baron Batchelor froze.
Dekan furrowed his brow. "You don't remember? Do you need me to help you recall?"
Baron Batchelor instinctively shuddered all over. "I remember! I remember!"
"Good! Baron Batchelor, go through that whole emotional journey a hundred more times, and shout it out loud!"
Dekan's expression turned stern as he gave the order.
Baron Batchelor said, "Yes, sir!"
So Baron Batchelor began shouting at Dekan over and over: "You're human! I tortured you! You were rescued! I forgot you were human! I opened my heart to you!"
[Task Objective 3: No more than three impostors exposed as human; disguises intact: 5/6] [Task Objective 2: Rescue at least three humans; current progress: 2/3] [Task Objective 3: No more than three impostors exposed as human; disguises intact: 6/6] [...]
Meanwhile, the challengers tackling other classrooms elsewhere noticed the bizarre changes in the task list.
Some of them were veterans who had cleared the Shadow World multiple times.
In their experience, Task Objective 1—increasing exploration progress—was a "standard objective." It involved a lot of work, but the difficulty was spread out.
Task Objective 2—rescuing three humans—should have been a "high-difficulty objective" that could only be completed by clearing an elite room or a boss room.
They hadn't found any humans in the classrooms they'd entered so far.
The humans waiting to be rescued were most likely in the more difficult elite rooms or the boss room.
As they explored, they also needed to gather clues bit by bit to find the boss room and uncover the boss's weaknesses.
But...
How had this objective already been completed?!
They even noticed that the progress counter for Task Objective 2 had started steadily climbing!!
In the end, it stopped at the utterly bizarre figure of [Task Objective 2: Rescue at least three humans; current progress: 101/3]!
Meanwhile, Task Objective 3, the "restriction objective," kept jumping back and forth between "disguises intact: 5/6" and "disguises intact: 6/6."
Had this Shadow World... malfunctioned? Was it broken?
Amid their joy and surprise, they also felt deeply uneasy.
They'd never seen or even heard of anything like this...
They hoped nothing terrible would happen next.
The Observation Hall at Havenlit Academy was in utter chaos.
Students and teachers alike were frantically discussing Dekan's outrageous antics.
Many people watched with twitching mouths, only just recovering from their initial bewilderment.
Was this really how you played a fourth-tier Shadow World?
They'd never heard of anyone being this reckless when tackling a Shadow World above their tier!
Even an experienced high-tier challenger entering a fourth-tier Shadow World couldn't clear a high-difficulty objective to the tune of 101/3 in just over an hour!
"Is Dekan the problem, or is it this Demon Academy..."
A student couldn't help wondering.
"Is it possible... that Dekan just found the school that suits him best..."
The Knight Academy conference room.
The silence was terrifying.
A group of professors had watched Dekan and Cornelia's battle. Their initial concern had gradually given way to relief, then to increasingly strange expressions.
These were this year's new students?
They'd seen all sorts of things.
Humans brainwashing demons?
That, they hadn't seen...
They were even starting to suspect Dekan—or rather, Cornelia too!
Could those two actually be demons?!
"...Are we overreacting by worrying about them?"
Professor Arnold rubbed his temples and looked at the dean.
He'd thought that no matter how outrageous Dekan's behavior was, he could no longer be surprised by it.
But now he realized that humanity's limits couldn't be taken as Dekan's limits.
If they ever encountered a "challenger-versus-challenger" Shadow World, he couldn't imagine what Dekan would do.
"..."
The dean was silent too.
In his judgment, the Dekan who'd taken the entrance exam hadn't been this terrifying.
But ever since Dekan met Cornelia...
Everything had changed.
The two people who should never—and could never—have met had crossed paths.
In many popular stories, "boy meets girl" was often a tale of two people healing and redeeming each other.
But Dekan and Cornelia's meeting...
Had blocked off every path by which they could treat each other like human beings, and sent them striding together toward the endless abyss...
Before you continue