Seshi’s school, the Eden Affiliated Middle School, was located in the northwest district of Eden City.
It was a standard full-time middle school, worlds apart from Eden High Academy.
Nestled in a relatively quiet residential area surrounded by ordinary houses, convenience stores, and parks, the campus was steeped in the atmosphere of daily life.
The curriculum at Eden Affiliated Middle School differed entirely from the Academy—it involved no special courses regarding Magic Adaptors, Goddess Armaments, or combat against Crystal Husks.
Here, students studied the most fundamental and common subjects: language arts, mathematics, history, and science.
It was no different from any other ordinary middle school in this world.
Only when graduation approached would the students collectively participate in the Aptitude Test.
This was a city-wide unified examination organized by the Eden General Education Bureau, used to detect whether each student possessed the latent potential to interface with a Goddess Armament.
Students who passed the test could choose to continue to a regular high school or apply for the preparatory class at Eden High Academy to begin their journey toward becoming true Adaptors.
As for Seshi…
Hell stood on the tram platform, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched the vehicle slowly approach from a distance.
Seshi was currently in her final year—equivalent to the ninth grade in the real world—facing her high school entrance exams and future choices.
But she was an extreme exception.
As early as her first year, she had already awakened her talent as a Goddess Angel and secretly joined their organization.
Ordinarily, a girl like her should have been active on the front lines against the Crystal Husks long ago.
However, because she was so young—only twelve or thirteen when she awakened—the seniors among the Goddess Angels reached a unanimous decision after some deliberation: they would not allow her to participate in any combat missions for the time being.
She was still too small; her body had not fully developed, and her Magic Circuits were not yet stable.
Forcing her into battle prematurely could not only hinder her growth but lead to irreparable danger.
Consequently, Seshi had lived a strange double life over these past few years.
On the surface, she was an ordinary student at the Affiliated Middle School with excellent grades.
She went to school and returned home on time every day, maintaining polite but distant relationships with her classmates, occasionally earning praise from teachers for being ‘steady and sensible.’
In the shadows, she was a ‘reserve’ in the Goddess Angel organization.
She received secret guidance from her seniors, learning techniques for stealth, assassination, and intelligence gathering.
Occasionally, she was dispatched on low-risk reconnaissance missions that required no direct combat to accumulate practical experience.
The girl was like a blade that had not yet been sharpened, hidden quietly in its scabbard, waiting for the right moment.
The original Hell in the novel never truly understood any of this.
He merely viewed her as a cold ‘younger sister’ who loathed him—a potential threat.
He never imagined there was such a complex story behind her.
But now, Hell knew.
He knew of Seshi’s fragility, her struggles, and the longing for ‘home’ hidden beneath her frozen exterior.
He also knew that in the original story, when she killed ‘him’ with her own hands, that single strike contained far more than just hatred.
The tram slowed to a halt, and the doors opened with a soft hiss.
Hell stepped into the carriage.
There weren’t many people inside.
He found a window seat and sat down, casting his gaze at the city scenery blurring past.
Eden Affiliated Middle School.
Seshi.
He lowered his eyelids slightly, his fingertips tapping rhythmically against his knee.
This time, he wouldn’t let her reach that point.
This time, he would let that cold sister of his know exactly what it meant to have an ‘older brother.’
‘If she listens to me and works for me, everything will turn out fine.’
The tram traveled smoothly along the tracks as the afternoon sunlight spilled through the window. Hell stared out at the passing world with a void of expression.
It was time to set this line in motion.
There was less than half an hour left before Eden Affiliated Middle School dismissed its students.
Hell was already waiting at the school gates.
He leaned casually against a low wall to the side of the main entrance, one hand shoved in his trouser pocket while the other idly toyed with his phone.
The youth’s presence quickly drew the attention of the women nearby who were there to pick up students.
Mothers waiting for their children and a few young female teachers found their eyes drawn to him involuntarily.
They whispered among themselves, their faces flickering with various degrees of surprise and admiration.
Hell’s appearance was precisely the type that ‘older women’ adored.
His was a handsome face poised between youth and adulthood.
Most striking was the air of lethargy mixed with a hint of frailty; the faint dark circles under his eyes did not detract from his beauty but instead added a sense of ‘shattered vulnerability’ that made one feel protective of him.
He looked like the type who needed to be looked after and loved, yet he also exuded an inscrutable mystery.
Many women felt a sudden, inexplicable impulse—the urge to pull him into their arms and pamper him.
Furthermore, unlike at Eden High Academy, Hell’s reputation had not spread near this ordinary middle school.
No one knew the rumors of him being a ‘scoundrel,’ and no one looked at him with judgmental eyes.
In the eyes of these bystanders, he was simply a remarkably handsome youth with a unique temperament.
Judging by his uniform, he was from Eden High Academy, likely waiting for a younger sister or a friend to finish school.
Eden High Academy was not just any school.
In this world, which had been overshadowed by the threat of Crystal Husks for a century, it carried a weight far heavier than mere ‘education.’
It was the symbol of human hope.
A lighthouse against the darkness.
Every graduating class from that academy, whether they became true Adaptors, joined the security forces, or engaged in research related to Goddess Armaments, contributed to the continuation of human civilization in their own way.
Therefore, Eden High Academy held a nearly sacred status in the hearts of ordinary people.
Students capable of enrolling in that academy were elites selected through rigorous screening.
They had to possess excellent aptitude and meet incredibly high standards in academics, physical fitness, and psychological resilience.
In a sense, they were the seeds of humanity’s future guardians.
Consequently, students of Eden High Academy were respected and admired wherever they went.
This fact only added to Hell’s appeal to the passersby.
The mothers, the young women, and even the occasional pedestrians often showed a flash of admiration when they first saw him.
However, Hell remained indifferent to those gazes. He continued to lean against the wall, his eyes quietly watching the school entrance.
That was right—he had come to pick up his sister, Seshi.
This was a decision he had made on the tram: to appear at Seshi’s school gates as an ‘older brother’ and take her to her favorite restaurant for dinner.
To progress Seshi’s route, he first had to improve their relationship.
And to improve the relationship, the first step was making her feel ‘cared for.’
The Seshi in the original novel had never felt genuine care from Hell.
The gloomy and reclusive original host would only look at her with eyes that filled her with loathing or ‘care’ for her in ways that made her uncomfortable.
The ‘older brother’ she longed for had never existed.
But now, Hell wanted her to know that such a brother could, perhaps, exist.
Of course, he knew it would be difficult.
Seshi’s hatred for him was deep-seated; it wouldn’t be changed by a single pickup from school or one dinner. But there had to be a beginning.
He lifted his eyelids, checked the closed gates, and then glanced at the time on his phone.
Fifteen minutes left.
Soon, the crisp sound of the school bell echoed from deep within the campus, breaking the evening silence.
That bell acted like a switch, and the quiet campus instantly surged with life.
Shouts, footsteps, and chatter approached from a distance as more and more students poured out of the teaching buildings, crossed the playground, and gathered toward the school gate.
Hell straightened his posture slightly and began searching the crowd.
Among the departing students, several young girls noticed him.
A few middle school girls walking together slowed down significantly the moment they saw him.
Their eyes lit up as they huddled together, whispering excitedly and stealing glances, their faces flushing with shy blushes.
One of the bolder girls even intentionally slowed her pace as she passed him, her eyes lingering on his face for quite a while before being pulled away by her companions.
Hell ignored these girls completely, his gaze never even shifting toward them.
His eyes quickly scanned the youthful faces in the surging tide of people.
Then, his gaze locked.
Amidst the crowd, a black-clad figure was walking out at an unhurried pace.
Long black hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall, shimmering softly in the setting sun.
Her fair, exquisite face bore no excess emotion, and her obsidian-like eyes stared calmly ahead, as if the surrounding clamor had nothing to do with her.
She wore the dark sailor-style uniform of the Affiliated Middle School, her skirt swaying gently with her steps.
She possessed a quiet temperament that was entirely different from the chattering girls around her.
It was Seshi.
Hell took a deep breath.
He prepared to step forward, his face already adjusted into a smile that belonged to an ‘older brother’—one that looked as gentle and harmless as possible.
However, just as he took his first step.
A figure darted out from his diagonal front and intercepted Seshi.
It was a young man around twenty years old with bleached blonde hair, wearing a gaudy jacket.
He had a toothpick dangling from his mouth and a smile he clearly thought was dashing.
He spoke in a slick, greasy tone.
“Yo, junior!”
Seshi stopped walking and looked up at the stranger blocking her path with an expressionless face.
The blonde scoundrel seemed entirely unfazed by Seshi’s lack of reaction, continuing in that slimy cadence.
“I graduated from Eden Middle School too, so I’m basically your senior. I heard third year is pretty tough. Want to go relax with your senior? I know a great place nearby. How about I buy you some milk tea and we have a chat?”
As he spoke, he tossed his blonde bangs with feigned swagger, flashing what he believed to be a charming smile.
Looking at the man before her, a trace of nearly imperceptible disgust flickered deep within Seshi’s obsidian eyes.
She detested people like her ‘older brother’—no, not like Hell specifically, but like all cynical, self-important, and frivolous pests. That greasy smile, that arrogant pick-up line, and the ulterior motives hidden behind the excuse of ‘relaxing’ made her feel physically ill.
But…
Her current persona in the ‘Surface World’ was just an ordinary, somewhat cold third-year middle school girl.
She could not display any abnormal power to an ordinary person, nor could she expose her identity as a Goddess Angel.
She couldn’t even be too aggressive in her rejection, lest she attract unnecessary attention.
Thus, the girl simply said in her usual cold tone:
“Thank you, but no.”
Having said that, she shifted slightly, intending to bypass the annoying fellow.
However, her coldness seemed to trigger a defiant streak in the blonde man, or perhaps he truly felt such a frigid beauty was worth pestering a bit longer.
He reached out, intending to grab Seshi’s arm.
“Don’t be in such a rush, junior. Listen to me—”
His hand was halfway there, before it even touched Seshi’s sleeve, when his wrist was suddenly clamped by a massive force.
The strength was staggering, like a cold iron shackle gripping his wrist. The pain of compressed bone hit him instantly.
“Hiss—! Ow, ow, ow!”
The blonde man grimaced in pain, his features twisting together as the toothpick fell from his mouth.
He cursed and screamed as he whipped his head around to see which blind fool dared to ruin his fun.
Yet, when he saw the person holding his wrist, his cursing stopped abruptly.
His entire body shuddered as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water.
It was a face so handsome it was almost demonic.
But at this moment, there was no expression on that face.
The black-haired youth’s eyes stared at him coldly.
There was no warmth in those eyes—only a suffocating chill that seemed to come from the abyss.
The faint dark circles under his eyes gave him a sickly look, but that frailty did not weaken his aura; instead, it made him appear even more dangerous and unpredictable.
His lips didn’t even move.
He just watched the man silently, as if looking at something that had already lost its life.
Then, Hell spoke.
His voice wasn’t loud—it could even be described as calm—yet it carried a pressure that made one’s spine tingle.
“What exactly…”
He paused, his gaze becoming increasingly shadowed.
“…Do you think you’re doing to my sister?”