Nikita returned to Puji Island after the Awakening of Insects.
By then, more than half a year had passed since the Black Prison Incident. Most of the school's attention had shifted back inward—balancing its relationship with the First University, coordinating the interests of its various factions, and preparing to establish new academies.
Naturally, the school paid much less attention to a little demon like her.
That was why she had the chance to return to Puji Island.
Of course, Nikita had not done so willingly.
Economics had a concept called "negative externality," referring to when one person's actions affected others, forcing them to bear extra costs without receiving corresponding benefits or compensation. In a sense, the Sea Demon King advancing to become an Ancient One had been a negative externality for the demons of the Four Seas.
The four Great Sea Demons had not obtained a single Mystic Yellow Fruit during the Black Prison Incident, nor had they benefited from the Sea Demon King's advancement. On the contrary, because they had attacked Black Prison, they became priority targets for the Alliance for a time afterward, with more than one hunting party chasing at their heels and leaving them in a sorry state.
And ever since advancing, the Sea Demon King had vanished without a trace, as though He had forgotten about the subordinates drifting upon the sea.
To find their missing "pillar," the Great Sea Demons desperately resorted to every possible measure, sending their subordinates everywhere to search for places where the Sea Demon King might appear: from the Sahara to the polar ice fields, from Lake Baikal to the Moon Sea, from the Illusory Dream Realm to the New World—and, naturally, the place closest to truth in the Wizarding World: the First University.
Because she had successfully "infiltrated" the