That Day When Suzuki-kun Wasn't the Mob-B!

”Are we really not going to step out and fight, Cao Cao?”

Georg pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, observing the chaotic scene below. He had utilized his Longinus, the Dimension Lost, to create a perfectly invisible, isolated spatial room floating high above the Kuoh Academy grounds. From this vantage point, the elite members of the Hero Faction had a perfect bird’s-eye view of the impending massacre between the Khaos Brigade vanguard and the leaders of the Three Factions.

Naturally, the rest of the Hero Faction members shifted restlessly, their weapons tightly gripped in anticipation. The Khaos Brigade had thrown immense numbers and heavily armed Old Satan loyalists into the fray. Even with the raw power of the Maous and Archangels, the sheer volume of the terrorist army seemed overwhelming. If the Hero Faction dropped out of the sky right now to flank the leaders, victory seemed entirely assured.

”No,” Cao Cao replied, his single visible eye completely calm. ”Let’s just watch for now.”

Cao Cao knew his subordinates were eager to wash away the absolute terror Finn Balam had instilled in them during their disastrous encounter in Hong Kong. As the proud descendants of legendary human heroes, they were practically hardwired to face unspeakable horrors without their minds crumbling. They were convinced they had to be the ones to strike down Finn—the anomalous Demon King trying to force his existence upon the world.

Yet, Cao Cao wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what kind of ruthless, merciless monster Finn was. If they charged in blindly, they would simply be added to his body count.

If Finn knew the Hero Faction was still plotting against him, he’d probably just roll his eyes and blame it on the True Longinus rotting their brains.

”Calm down,” Cao Cao commanded, raising a hand to settle his restless vanguard. ”Our time will come. Until then, wait. You all felt exactly how monstrously strong he was. Don’t throw your lives away prematurely.”

As Cao Cao’s voice echoed in the invisible room, the air grew heavy. The heroes remembered the suffocating despair of being entirely at Finn’s mercy. They had only survived because Lord Indra had personally intervened to save them. But knowing they had a literal god backing them gave them the reckless confidence to try again. The Devils might be strong, but could they truly defy a chief deity?

As long as they could find the perfect opening, they believed they could kill Finn.

Just one moment. One fatal slip-up. Cao Cao firmly believed that even if he had to sacrifice every single pawn on the board—including his own faction members—he could impale Finn Balam.

Where did he get this absolute, chilling confidence?

He looked down at the divine, golden spear resting lightly in his grip. The True Longinus.

The lingering, ancient Will of the Biblical God that resided within the holy spear had been whispering to him. It demanded that he strike down this chaotic evil. If he failed, the world as they knew it would cease to have a future.

The plot of reality had been horribly derailed. According to the original flow of fate, the story was supposed to revolve around a weak, perverted, utterly clueless human boy who accidentally inherited the power of the Red Dragon Emperor. Instead, this anomaly—a terrifyingly calculated Devil of the Balam House—had violently rewritten the script, challenging the very threads of destiny.

Balaam.

The ancient Will within the spear remembered the original Biblical prophet named Balaam—the foolish oracle who forgot his place and foolishly tried to resist divine will. His legend had slowly mutated into that of a vile, corrupt devil. And now, his descendant had emerged, wreaking havoc across the globe. Naturally, the True Longinus believed the fate of this modern descendant would mirror his ancestor: utter destruction for daring to defy God.

”What are you being such a coward for, Suzaku?!”

Meanwhile, in another hidden staging area overlooking the school, the atmosphere was boiling with pure, unfiltered rage. Dozens of rogue members from the Five Principal Clans glared at Suzaku Himejima, the acting head of the Vermillion Bird Clan.

They were absolutely furious that she was desperately trying to stop them from charging down to join the Khaos Brigade’s attack on Finn.

The perfect chance was unfolding right before their eyes! This was their moment to enact bloody vengeance against the arrogant demon who had completely ruined their lives. Their eyes were bloodshot, burning with a frantic, desperate animosity that could scorch the earth.

Because of Finn, their clans had been utterly crushed. Their massive estates were reduced to rubble. Their affiliated businesses were bankrupt, and countless clan members had been rendered homeless, shunned as untouchable plagues by the rest of Japanese society. The gods of the Shinto Pantheon, terrified of Finn’s wrath, had turned their backs on the clans, plunging them into a literal hell. Many of the disgraced older generation had already committed ritual suicide in shame.

But the younger generation refused to die quietly. Fueled by hatred and backed by radical youkai and minor rogue deities who despised the Devils’ intrusion into Japan, they had gladly joined the Khaos Brigade to annihilate the peace summit.

”We have to kill him right now!” roared Byakko Shinra, the young, heavily muscled head of the White Tiger Clan. ”We have to erase that demon from this world! If we banish him and the rest of his filthy faction from our soil, everyone will finally remember who the true masters of this land are!”

”He is right,” Seiryuu Kushihashi, the head of the Azure Dragon Clan, agreed coldly, pushing his glasses up his nose. ”If we do nothing, we will simply wither away in disgrace and face absolute extinction. We must join hands with the Old Satan Faction tonight. Even if we lose half our numbers, Finn Balam must die.”

”I agree,” Ouryuu Nakiri, head of the Yellow Dragon Clan, added, drawing his blade. ”If you are too terrified to fight, Suzaku, then stay here and cower in the shadows.”

Genbu Doumon, the stoic head of the Black Tortoise Clan, remained completely silent, but she stepped forward, aligning herself with the men.

They were the chosen heirs of the Divine Beasts. Yellow Dragon, White Tiger, Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, and Vermillion Bird. Their inherited powers were meant to shake heaven and earth. Tonight, they would unleash everything to erase their nightmare.

”No, you don’t understand!” Suzaku screamed, her voice cracking with pure desperation.

Unlike the arrogant, sheltered heirs around her, Suzaku had stood face-to-face with Finn. She had felt his crushing, abyssal aura. She knew that no matter what humiliations her clan suffered, the only viable option for survival was absolute, silent endurance.

”You can’t fight him! It’s meaningless!” Suzaku begged, grabbing Byakko’s arm. ”No one here can defeat him!”

”ENOUGH!”

A rogue elder from the Himejima clan violently slapped Suzaku’s hand away.

”If you refuse to fight for our honor, then stay here and rot with that pathetic trash in the corner!” the elder spat, pointing a trembling finger toward Tobio Ikuse. ”More importantly, the only reason we are in this miserable situation is that the two of you were entirely too weak to handle him in the first place! We are cleaning up your mess! If you won’t help us, stay out of our way!”

”No! Wait!”

Ignoring Suzaku’s desperate, tearful pleas, the mobilized forces of the Five Principal Clans surged forward, leaping into the night to join the Khaos Brigade’s assault.

Completely unnoticed in the corner of the staging room, a beautiful woman in a loose black kimono with twitching cat ears sat in the shadows, silently laughing to herself at the sheer, suicidal stupidity of humans.

”Suzaku...”

Tobio stepped forward, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He desperately wanted to comfort his lover, to do something heroic, but the bitter reality was that he was completely powerless. Stripped of his Sacred Gear, he was just a normal, weak human boy.

Suzaku didn’t even look at him. Her mind was entirely consumed by the impending, absolute terror she knew was about to unfold.

”Finn Balam-sama is entirely different from the rest,” Suzaku whispered to the empty room, her eyes wide and unfocused. Her sanity had been slightly fractured by his overwhelming presence, causing her to view him not as a Devil, but as an untouchable, wrathful deity. ”He is a living calamity. He isn’t something mortals can cross swords with...”

Despite her absolute terror, Suzaku couldn’t just stand by and watch her clan be erased. She forced her trembling legs to move, desperately rushing toward the academy courtyard to somehow beg for mercy on their behalf.

But by the time she arrived, it was already far too late.

SQUELCH.

The sickening, wet sound echoed loudly over the din of the battlefield.

Byakko Shinra, the proud, roaring head of the White Tiger Clan, didn’t even have time to swing his weapon. His bald head instantly splattered like a dropped watermelon. The headless, heavily muscled corpse stood completely frozen for a second before collapsing into a bloody heap on the pavement.

There was no grand spell. No warning. No visible attacker.

SQUELCH. SQUELCH.

Two more heads belonging to rogue Exorcists violently exploded in showers of crimson gore.

SQUELCH. SQUELCH. SQUELCH. SQUELCH.

Four became eight. Eight became sixteen.

In utter silence, an invisible, mechanical slaughter swept through the Khaos Brigade’s ranks. The heavy, metallic stench of fresh blood completely overwhelmed the night air. The Kuoh Academy grounds were rapidly transforming into an apocalyptic, senseless carnival of carnage.

The Manager had taken control. And the automatic cull had officially begun.