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Akio watched their reactions with satisfaction, nodding like a teacher pleased with a bright student.
Hisako hesitated before asking, "So… once we've cooked the dishes, where should we bring them to you?"
Akio waved a hand dismissively. "No need to look for me. Once you've become my followers, just whisper my name after you finish cooking, and I'll naturally take the dish."
Erina thought about it and realized that was actually pretty convenient. It was basically like making an extra breakfast portion each time she cooked. Nothing difficult at all.
Hisako came to the same conclusion and agreed without hesitation.
Akio crooked a finger at them. "You two, come here. Sit beside me."
Erina instinctively asked, "What are you planning to do?"
"Obviously, I'm going to make you my followers." Akio rolled his eyes. "But if you'd rather not sit, kneeling in front of me works too. I don't mind."
Erina: …
Yeah, no thanks.
She tugged Hisako along, and the two sat down to Akio's left and right.
Akio placed his hands on their shoulders and poured a surge of radiant energy into their bodies.
Only about ten thousand units' worth.
Compared to Akio's own hundred million, it was practically nothing. But for Erina and Hisako, it was overwhelming—an almost impossible amount of power.
With this much strength, even facing someone like Rikuo Nura one-on-one, they might not necessarily lose.
That said, Rikuo in his base form was only around this level. Once he used his "Fear Warding" ability, his strength multiplied tenfold. Against that, the two of them would still be crushed like rookies.
After receiving Akio's gift, both girls now bore his mark. They had officially become his followers.
He could take back the power with a single thought—or even snuff out their lives if he wished. But Akio wasn't the type to abuse that. He wasn't some wicked god, after all.
"So… strong…"
Erina could feel the radiance flowing through her body and couldn't help but whisper in awe.
Since awakening her Gourmet Cells, she had already thought herself frighteningly powerful. That strength had given her plenty of confidence.
But now, faced with Akio's overwhelming light, she finally understood what true power was. Compared to this, the strength from her Gourmet Cells was almost nothing.
Not that Gourmet Cells were weaker. Far from it—their potential was terrifying. Almost on par with something out of Dragon Ball. Especially the Gourmet Demons, each of them absurdly monstrous.
Take Ichiryu's inner demon, Slime, the leader of the Gourmet Demons. He had ruled over the Black Universe multiple times, and after Ichiryu's death, he even tried to resurrect him—only to be rejected.
At his peak, a casual punch could shatter stars, and he could even duplicate entire small planets. One of his signature moves, Supernova Explosion, compressed impossible amounts of mass into a ping-pong-sized star before detonating it. He once declared that the move could erase Gourmet Earth itself.
And Gourmet Earth was nothing like modern Earth—it had been reshaped by Gourmet Cells into something hundreds of times larger. Yet Slime's supernova could still destroy it. That was how terrifying the true upper limit of Gourmet Cells was.
The problem was, Erina had only just awakened hers. She hadn't eaten nearly enough rare ingredients to evolve them properly. Her demon hadn't even awakened yet, so she couldn't tap into the true potential of her Gourmet Cells.
But speaking of which… the demon inside her was a Black Slime.
Could it be related to the Slime Leader? Maybe even part of his clan, or a subordinate?
Hmm… it wasn't impossible.
Meanwhile, Hisako was just as stunned by the surge of power inside her.
For a second, she honestly felt that if she just flexed her fingers, she could wipe this entire cooking workshop off the face of the earth—without even leaving a trace behind.
That thought scared her enough to clamp down on the impulse immediately.
This was Erina-sama's kitchen. If she destroyed it, how could she possibly explain herself?
Calm down, Hisako.
There's an old saying: "Hold a sharp weapon, and killing intent naturally arises." It perfectly described her current state of mind.
Anyone who suddenly gained power wanted to test it. That was normal. Even an ordinary person, given a hammer, would swing it around a bit—and start seeing nails everywhere.
So for Hisako, who had just been granted overwhelming strength, the urge was only natural.
Akio noticed her expression and chuckled. "No need to hold yourself back. If you want to try out your strength, go ahead. There's plenty of targets outside."
Hisako: ???
She understood the words, but the sentence as a whole didn't make any sense.
Plenty of targets… outside?
"I'll show you."
Akio stood, leading the two of them out of the workshop and into the open grounds of Tōtsuki Academy. He pointed toward the wandering figures roaming the area.
"See? Tons of targets. Have at it."
Hisako gasped and nearly choked on her own breath. "W-what the hell are those things?!"
She had never seen anything like them before. Twisted, half-human shapes, their bodies wreathed in black mist, each one looking like some nightmare pulled from the dark.
It was horrifying. Was this really the same Tōtsuki Academy she knew?
"Those are evil spirits," Akio said casually.
"No. Not quite."
Erina shook her head, her eyes narrowing. "Calling them evil spirits isn't accurate. The proper term is filth."
"Filth?" Akio raised a brow. The word rang faintly familiar, though he couldn't place it.
Hisako blinked, then remembered something. "I've heard of that… My family once said filth are monsters born from human negative emotions."
Erina nodded. "Exactly. They come from twisted human thoughts and malice. You could call them curses or spirits, but in ancient times, exorcists gave them the name 'filth.'"
"The ruined world where they dwell was called by the onmyoji… the Cursed Wastes."
"If a human wanders into the Cursed Wastes, they'll be devoured by the filth inside. It's a terrifying place."
Hisako asked in a trembling voice, "Then… if filth live in the Cursed Wastes, why are they here in our school?"
"..."
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