"In that case..."
Azazel stared at Kalawarner with a strange look for a while, then revealed a regretful expression.
"I can only apply for the position after Teacher Kalawarner unfortunately meets with an accident."
"Are you threatening me?"
Rias said, refusing to back down. "If anything happens to Kalawarner, be prepared to start the war again."
"A war? Just the few of you?" Azazel laughed heartily, watching everyone with mockery.
Rias was unperturbed and said coolly, "I am the next head of the Gremory family. You are indeed strong, but are you stronger than our entire family?"
"Impossible. The Gremory family would never go to war with me over a piece of trash." Azazel was disdainful, completely ignoring Rias's words.
"You can try."
Rias remained calm, but this tranquility finally sent a chill down Azazel's spine.
He stopped smiling and asked gloomily, "Are you truly willing to go to such lengths for a piece of trash?"
Rias did not reply, merely staring at him expressionlessly.
After a moment of confrontation, Azazel suddenly lost his intensity. "Ah, this is truly terrifying. I was genuinely trying to help you improve your power, and yet..."
"Stop talking nonsense. I will not agree to your terms."
Rias had lost all patience for pretense. The relationship between the two was now virtually broken.
"Please leave immediately. This is a school, and unauthorized persons are not welcome."
Azazel nonchalantly walked to the sofa. As if oblivious to everyone's disgusted looks, he simply flopped down onto it.
"I can't attack you, but I don't want to leave. What are you going to do about it?"
Seeing Azazel's shameless behavior, everyone was angry, but they genuinely had no way to deal with him.
The emotionless white-haired loli suddenly interjected, "Shameless..."
Azazel glanced at her and chuckled. "What an adorable little girl. She doesn't even use vulgar words when insulting me."
In his years, he had encountered all kinds of battles and enemies. This kind of trash talk truly only made him find her endearing.
Seeing that Azazel truly wouldn't leave, Rias could only signal everyone to prepare to move to a different location.
There were many empty classrooms in Kuoh Academy. They could simply renovate another one.
Just as everyone started to move, Azazel stood up, adopting an attitude that implied he would follow them wherever they went.
"Split up."
Rias was silent for a moment, then threw out those two words. She took the lead and headed toward the school gates.
Ethan and the others looked at each other. Just as they were about to split up, they saw Azazel follow Rias out of the school without any hesitation.
The key was Rias, the King. Everyone else was just a servant. If he dealt with Rias, the others' opinions wouldn't matter.
Ethan and the others couldn't let Rias be followed by Azazel alone. Even knowing he wouldn't dare attack, they didn't want to take any risk.
After a few steps, Rias realized this wouldn't work either. She lost her patience. "How long do you plan to follow me?"
"Hmm?" Azazel tilted his head and looked around. "Are you talking to me? I wasn't following you. I just happened to be walking this way."
Rias did not continue arguing with him. Clearly, force wasn't working. Azazel planned to use this method to wear her down until she agreed.
She had no doubt that no matter what she did—whether bathing or sleeping—Azazel would continue to follow her.
Since they were all A-class in strength, sleep and food were optional. If this continued, it would simply come down to whose willpower was stronger.
"Akira, Akeno, take the others and go home for now."
Rias prepared to dismiss everyone. She would return to the club room and slowly confront Azazel.
"Club activities are temporarily suspended. This is expected to last until the Three Factions Conference begins."
Hearing this, Azazel couldn't help but inwardly admire Rias's decisiveness. She truly was neither hard nor soft, already prepared to wear him down until the Three Factions Conference.
"President, I can't leave you alone with this leech."
Rias's method was the simplest and most effective, but Ethan couldn't agree. Who knew what other tactics Azazel would use during this time?
Even if he didn't succeed, Ethan would be deeply annoyed even if Azazel merely caught a glimpse of Rias exposing herself.
The word "leech" wasn't particularly offensive trash talk, but the instant it left Ethan's mouth, a sudden, inexplicable anger flared up in Azazel's heart.
He instinctively wanted to attack Ethan, but his immense power quickly made him realize something was wrong. Azazel was startled.
He spread his senses, carefully scanning the surroundings, but failed to find anyone influencing him.
However, he couldn't be mistaken about this feeling; he was definitely being psychologically influenced.
Unable to find the source of the influence, Azazel could only secretly cast several mental protection spells on himself and suppress the anger caused by the influence.
Ethan was unaware of Azazel's reaction. Otherwise, he would have known that the Cuckold Template was acting up again.
Rias pulled Ethan into her embrace, her surging, soft bosom rubbing against his cheek. "Akira... but we don't have any other option..."
They couldn't defeat him, insults didn't bother him, and calling the police was useless. She truly didn't know how to handle such a shameless Azazel.
Ethan returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around Rias's slender waist. He bit the girl's delicate earlobe and whispered, "Not necessarily. There's one more way, but it requires taking a risk."
The attack on her sensitive ear made Rias's face flush slightly.
Suppressing her shyness, she asked, "What method?"
Ethan slightly raised the Longinus that had remained materialized on his arm, and chanted "Boost..." again.
"Akira... are you planning to..."
Rias understood what Ethan's method referred to. The reason Azazel had them helpless was his superior strength.
If they could contend with him on their own, without the involvement of the Devil King layer, everything would be simpler.
The nature of the Boosted Gear Longinus meant that given enough time, even a Low-Class Devil could possess the power of a Devil King's single strike.
From the moment Azazel appeared until now, Ethan had continuously been using the Boost ability—once every ten seconds. He was quickly approaching the current limit of what he could withstand.
He hadn't tested exactly how powerful such a strike would be, but based on his S-class peak strength, an attack rivaling a Devil King should be achievable.
"President, can he be killed?"
"No problem."
Rias nodded seriously. The Devil King couldn't act, but that didn't mean she couldn't.
Azazel's unauthorized presence in Kuoh Town was an invasion of her territory. She could simply deny knowing anything about the Three Factions Conference.
As an underage Devil girl who had lived her entire life in the human world, it was perfectly normal for her not to know about the conference.
Conversely, as the next head of the Gremory family, knowing about it was also perfectly normal.
How to present the narrative depended entirely on Rias. There was ample room for argument on this issue.
"That's good."
Ethan released Rias and shouted in a low voice, "Boost, Explosion."
A massive amount of power surged through his body. As Ethan fully stabilized it, his entire body began to tremble.
"Akira, are you alright? Don't push yourself."
"I'm fine. I can maintain this for about three minutes."
The enormous energy signature caught Azazel's attention. As the disguise on the Boosted Gear disappeared, he suddenly opened his eyes wide.
"That's the Boosted Gear, one of the Thirteen Longinus!!!"
Azazel spread his black wings, and a Sacred Gear armor he had created materialized on his body. "No wonder I sensed a hint of danger from your left hand last time. So you are the one chosen by the Red Dragon Emperor. I never expected your innate talent to be so strong, reaching Upper-Class Devil power so quickly."
Azazel had detected the presence of a Longinus in Kuoh Town, but at the time, the Boosted Gear was still residing in Issei Hyoudou.
He had mistaken the person he sensed for Ethan and had no idea that the Red Dragon Emperor would voluntarily switch hosts.
In this state, Ethan's time was precious, and he had no leisure to explain the reasons.
Ethan's figure flashed. Following a sonic boom, a steel-like crimson Dragon Claw appeared before Azazel's face, clamped down on it, and violently slammed him toward the ground.
Azazel's heart skipped a beat. He tried to defend himself but was too late. Even with similar power levels, Ethan's close-quarters combat completely overwhelmed him.
Bang!
A deep crater appeared in the ground. Ethan and Azazel's figures vanished from sight, with only muffled thuds and tremors continuing to rise from beneath the earth.