After Asia became a servant, the atmosphere in the Occult Research Club was lively for several days.
Ethan soon stopped worrying about Gaspar.
The storm stirred by the butterfly's wings was growing larger. Without Issei Hyoudou's presence, it was uncertain whether Gaspar would even interact with the Occult Research Club.
On March 30th, Akeno Himejima and Azazel's messenger finally reached an agreement and signed the cooperation contract.
Two days later, the new school year at Kuoh Academy began. Ethan advanced to the second year. When the classes were reorganized, Koneko Toujou and Yuuto Kiba were assigned to the same class as him.
At the same time, Yuma Amano, Asia, and Mittelt entered his class as transfer students.
Because there were two foreign students among the transfers, Kalawarner naturally took up a homeroom teacher position in the 2nd Year A-Class as a specially appointed foreign instructor.
In this way, except for the 3rd Year Rias and Akeno Himejima, the members of the Occult Research Club were all gathered in one class.
Under Rias's arrangement, the students and teachers in 2nd Year A-Class were also people from the supernatural world.
They included the Rena Hamazaki gyaru trio, Akane Nanao, Mizuki Suzumori, Fuyuko Sakuramachi, Tsukino Yomizawa, the Sakuramiya sisters...
The few remaining slots were mostly filled with Ethan's acquaintances.
Furthermore, aside from Ethan and Yuuto Kiba...
Ahem, aside from Ethan, there were no other males in 2nd Year A-Class.
Looking at the cluster of beautiful girls around him, all with pink hearts in their eyes, Ethan finally understood the meaning behind Rias's knowing smile during the opening ceremony.
Due to the Yuuto Kiba situation, he had frequently held Org y parties recently. The beautiful girls in his classroom had all been "visited" by him in the past few days...
Judging by their expressions, quite a few of them were still deeply immersed in the experience.
"Ahem! Ahem! Settle down, class is about to start."
Ethan used his cough as cover to cast a low-level mental spell, barely preventing the sacred classroom from turning into another Org y venue.
He specifically targeted Yuuto Kiba.
Even though he had deliberately assigned her the furthest seat, she kept clinging to him, ignoring the strange looks of the people around her...
She's a girl, a large-breasted blonde beauty, a large-breasted blonde beauty, a large-breasted blonde beauty...
After silently chanting this mantra for a while, Ethan barely managed to restrain himself.
The collaboration with Azazel formally commenced on the third day of the new semester's club activities.
The first batch of resources had already been transported to the Grand Church.
In return, Azazel handed over some instructions on the usage and development of Fallen Angel powers to Rias in the form of letters.
Azazel's plan to infiltrate the group failed. The correspondence method was something Rias and Ethan's group had agreed upon.
In the later stages, when face-to-face instruction became necessary, she would lead everyone to the Grand Church periodically.
Azazel was initially displeased, complaining that it was too much trouble and that some things couldn't be explained in writing. He suggested he could come to Kuoh Academy instead.
He said he'd take any available accommodation, even the club room.
However, due to Rias's firm stance, he ultimately failed to get his way.
Initially, Rias and Ethan were relieved. If things continued this way until the Three Factions Conference, everything would be easier to handle.
But after only a few short days, Azazel showed up uninvited, aggressively demanding to be allowed to move into the Occult Research Club.
April 10th, 3:00 PM.
Azazel ended his communication with the Phenex family. Playing with a Sacred Gear into which he had integrated Freed's body and soul, he wore an evil smile.
Freed had lost Asia. Given the relationship between the two, Azazel chose not to pursue the matter with Rias.
As a substitute and a form of punishment, he had directly used Freed for an experiment.
"So Sirzechs has this attitude. Then I don't need to be polite."
Casually tossing the slightly upgraded handgun and Holy Sword onto the table, he located Kuoh Academy and began teleporting.
Azazel had maintained contact with the pure-blood Devil Phenex family.
Hearing that the Phenex family's third son also had his eye on Rias, he specifically contacted them and found an unexpected bonus.
Seeing Rias's firm attitude, he had initially assumed Sirzechs was supporting her. It turned out to be just a bluff.
The Phenex family's third son said he didn't care about anything else, except for Rias's virginity.
Azazel felt a little regretful, but thinking of the other beautiful girls, he was still exceptionally excited.
Rias was always the hardest to get, and there was the risk of retaliation from the Gremory family. Now, with the promise from the Phenex family's third son, it wouldn't matter even if he thoroughly defiled all of Rias's servants.
Once Rias became the wife of the Phenex family's third son, her servants would naturally become his servants as well.
Realizing this, Azazel couldn't wait another moment. After teleporting to Kuoh Academy, he activated his senses and found two locations with relatively strong auras.
"The Student Council... Oh, it's the Sitri family's little girl. That violent woman is troublesome..."
Azazel first checked the closer Student Council room, finding Sona Sitri and her servants. His eyes lit up at first, but then he remembered Sona Sitri's older sister and immediately abandoned his private intentions.
Sona Sitri also noticed him. It was hard not to notice that blatant, uninhibited sense of being observed.
She was aware of the situation between Rias and Azazel but felt it wasn't her place to intervene.
Sensing Azazel's hostile intent, she immediately grabbed her phone and notified Rias.
In the Occult Research Club room, Rias ended her call with Sona Sitri with a solemn expression. Before she could explain the situation to the others, a powerful and violent aura instantly blasted open the club room door. Azazel slowly walked in from outside, his expression arrogant.
Rias didn't have time to explain. She walked to the front of her group with a cold face, dark-red magic power swirling around her body.
"Azazel, are you planning to tear up the contract and start a full-scale battle here?"
"A full-scale battle?" Azazel sneered. "No, no, no. Even if we fight, it would barely qualify as bullying children."
The others were visibly furious but had to hold back due to the immense gap in power.
"Boost..."
Ethan narrowed his eyes. The Boosted Gear materialized, and he began secretly accumulating power.
Just as the tension reached its peak, Azazel suddenly withdrew his aura and laughed lightly at Rias. "Lady Rias, no need to be so tense. I have no intention of tearing up the contract."
Rias stared fixedly at him, not saying a word.
Azazel shrugged, completely unconcerned by her attitude, and continued on his own. "I just wanted to see how much your power has improved under my guidance. Now it seems that method doesn't work. You've barely improved at all, haven't you?"
Written instructions were indeed harder to understand and absorb than personal demonstrations. However, the main reason for Yuma Amano and the others' lack of improvement was the extremely short time frame.
Azazel was, of course, aware of this. He was simply looking for an excuse.
Seeing no one respond, he continued, "Therefore, I've decided to personally guide you. Conveniently, I recall you don't have a club advisor yet. I'll take on the role myself. No need to thank me too much."
"No need. We already have an advisor."
Rias looked at him expressionlessly. "Nor do we need your personal guidance. If we are to continue the collaboration, please leave."
"You do?" Azazel was surprised. "Who is it? I wasn't informed."
"She was hired after the start of the semester. Kalawarner, the English teacher for 2nd Year A-Class, and our club advisor."
This time, Akeno Himejima answered Azazel, pointing to the blue-haired mature woman, who was taller than everyone else present.
"Kalawarner?"
Azazel scratched his head. "That name sounds familiar. I think I had a failure under my command with the same name... Oh, I see, she's your servant now."
Kalawarner's expression turned very ugly. Yuma Amano and Mittelt nearby couldn't help but show their indignation.
"Lady Rias, what use is it having that failure as an advisor? What can she teach you?"
"That's none of your concern. Our club's focus is the investigation of mysterious phenomena, and Kalawarner can naturally be of help."