Everything is Anime!

They had witnessed with their own eyes how easily those ghouls empowered by fallen-angel power were slaughtered. If they ended up facing him, they wouldn't stand a chance.

And they could clearly sense that Hikaru truly harbored a bit of killing intent toward them.

"Hikaru... how are you here?!"

Touka Kirishima asked, startled.

"I caught the stench of something foul. I came to see—and sure enough, I found trash."

Hikaru replied.

"So, among you… has anyone here eaten humans like they did?"

Hikaru never had much fondness for ghouls.

Even though Touka Kirishima and the others might be considered "good guys" in the original single-fandom story, their behavior wasn't purely innocent. The Antique café sheltered many ghouls seeking to turn over a new leaf. If Hikaru had never come across them, it might have been fine—but now that he had, he wouldn't show mercy if any of them were guilty.

"Wh-what do we do…?"

Someone began to panic. They had thought he was a savior, but it turned out he might be an executioner instead.

"Wait! Hikaru, I swear they haven't eaten humans! At most… they've just bought blood from the black market. They've never actually eaten anyone!"

Touka said anxiously.

"How can you prove that?"

Hikaru shot back.

"Hikaru-sama, please be merciful. Touka's telling the truth—we really haven't attacked any humans. I even have a certificate from the devils."

Speaking up, Yoshimura handed him a red-cased document.

"Hmm?"

Hikaru took it, scanning through the contents. His expression stiffened a bit.

After a moment of silence, he pulled out the badge Rias had given him and initiated contact.

"Rias, do you know there are ghouls within your territory?"

"Why the sudden question? Well… when I inherited Kuoh Town from my father, I did look into things. Yes, there are indeed some ghoul communities, but they don't pose any harm to ordinary humans, so I've left them alone."

Rias answered, rubbing her eyes.

"So, what happened?"

"Nothing."

So that was it. These Antique-café ghouls actually had an official permit from the Underworld, which explained how they could operate so openly in Kuoh. The misunderstanding was resolved. Touka's companions, who had been trembling at Hikaru's killing intent, heaved a collective sigh of relief—though they still watched him warily, in case he turned hostile again.

But Hikaru no longer displayed any inclination to attack.

"Anyway, why do these ghouls have fallen-angel powers?"

Hikaru asked.

Yoshimura Kouzen proceeded to explain the entire story in detail. He recognized the emblem engraved on Hikaru's badge, the coat of arms of the pure-blood devil Gremory family. So even if Hikaru wasn't a devil, he was at least connected.

Trying to survive "between the cracks" of society, the café's ghouls had no desire to get dragged into this unnecessary conflict. Yoshimura's explanation cleared things up for Hikaru. So these ghouls, typically just fodder in a fantasy world, had teamed up with fallen angels? Interesting. Hikaru saw no reason to linger and turned to leave.

As he departed into the dark, rainy night, Touka Kirishima stood at the café entrance watching him go, her expression complicated.

…

Riding his motorcycle back home, Hikaru reflected that the battle had been an unexpected detour, but not a fruitless one. By seizing the Spears of Light the ghouls wielded, his passive ability activated, granting him some insight into the nature of "Light Power."

Light Power, as it turned out, was distinct from both magic and immortal qi: it was the inherent power of angels and fallen angels. When God created them, He imbued them with holy force—Light Power. Even when angels fall, their power remains unchanged; only their mindset becomes corrupt. Light Power perfectly suppresses devils and other sinister entities.

So as soon as Hikaru returned home, he seized this rare opportunity to analyze the Light Power and see if he could master it. More techniques mean more strength, after all.

Still, even with Heaven Rewards Diligence, Hikaru couldn't possibly master sacred force in just a few hours. Furthermore, after assimilating a strand of Light Power's data, he noticed a minor issue in his body: devil power and angelic power repelled each other. Like the positive and negative poles of a magnet, these two powers were mutually incompatible. If he tried to forcibly cultivate Light Power, the conflict between the two incompatible energies might blow up inside him like a lit fuse.

But that didn't faze Hikaru.

They're "incompatible"? So what?

For an ordinary person, that meant a choice between one or the other.

But for him?

"Deep Blue, let's test your limits—oh, sorry, wrong script."

"Heaven Rewards Diligence—let's train!"

~~~

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