"The ones who harmed me... why couldn't they have been devils?"
When these words left Sharon's mouth, Yukinoshita Yukino froze.
Indeed.
Since Sharon hated devils so much and was so obsessed with them, why couldn't it be that devils were the ones who harmed her? Why assume she was foolish enough to work for the Church that had hurt her?
"You mean—?"
Yukinoshita was a clever person, so she quickly began to understand what Sharon was implying.
Sharon's next words confirmed it.
"Injecting devil factors into human genes to create powerful warriors... the Church wasn't the first to conduct this experiment. It was the devils."
Sharon's expressionless revelation dealt a significant psychological blow to Yukinoshita.
"It seems you've figured it out." Sharon smiled. This time, it wasn't an emotionless smile, but a mocking one. "That's right. The ones who injected devil factors into my body were none other than devils."
That had happened when Sharon was still a small child.
She didn't know who had given birth to her or where she came from. She only knew that from the moment she could remember things, her identity was that of an experimental subject—or rather, a lab rat.
At that time, her world was tiny. Opening and closing her eyes revealed only a few rooms. These rooms were either pitch-black cells without a single light source or laboratories so bright they were blinding. Her daily life consisted of moving back and forth between these rooms. Aside from eating and sleeping, she was subjected to blood draws, injections of suspicious drugs, consumption of unknown foods, and being inspected and observed under cold, white lights. There was nothing else.
She wasn't alone; there were people from various races. Some were monsters, some were yokai, some were vampires, and there were even angels and fallen angels. It encompassed almost every race in the world.
Then—as time passed, these people disappeared one by one.
At first, Sharon didn't know where they went.
When she got a bit older, she vaguely understood. Those people were most likely dead.
She had heard the adults who observed them with cold eyes say:
"Today's experiment failed again."
"This experimental subject can only be discarded."
"Nothing to be done. Go restock with some new ones."
"Record the experimental results. Handle the corpse the old way."
In this manner, more and more people vanished, and the adults around her became increasingly irritable. The experiments performed on her and the other survivors became more radical.
She was in pain.
She was in despair.
Therefore, she hated those adults, and she hated the bat-like evil wings they occasionally revealed behind their backs.
Later, she learned that those who bore bat wings were all devils.
The ones who told her this were the Church personnel who rescued her.
"Those devils seemingly set up their laboratory in the human world to avoid detection. When the Church learned of its existence, they sent an exorcist squad, destroyed the facility, rescued me—the sole survivor—and took me back."
Sharon explained everything, causing Yukinoshita's expression to shift continuously.
"Are you trying to say that my master—Leon Eligos—lied to me?"
Yukinoshita stared intently at Sharon, searching for a sign of a scheme.
To her surprise, Sharon shook her head.
"No. That guy probably doesn't know any of this." Sharon recalled some unpleasant memories. "I don't know where he got his information, but after hearing I was a Church experiment, he'd look at me like I was a mental patient every time we met. That look proves he doesn't know the truth."
"It's not surprising, though. The current Underworld would certainly do its best to hide such a scandalous experiment. Most devils today are half-breeds or reincarnated humans. If it were exposed that the devil faction used us as lab rats, it would absolutely cause an upheaval."
"So, the new generation of devils likely knows nothing about it, and the older generation won't talk. Plus, the Church did establish some inhumane research facilities. After I was taken back, I was targeted by some fanatics who inspected and researched me. Someone without the full truth would naturally assume the Church was the one who put devil factors in me."
Sharon's indifferent tone caused Yukinoshita to loosen her clenched fists.
"But why would devils conduct such an experiment?" Yukinoshita asked in confusion. "If they wanted powerful warriors, couldn't they just use the Evil Pieces to reincarnate them?"
The devil's reincarnation technology was currently unique; neither angels, fallen angels, nor other factions possessed it.
It was understandable why the Church would want to cultivate powerful warriors against devils, but devils had no such need.
With the Evil Piece technology, the devils had already solved their greatest problem regarding racial survival. They could recruit and reincarnate any combat power they desired. There was no need to research new warriors.
"That is because what they wanted wasn't an ordinary warrior. They wanted an anomalous existence whose power far exceeds that of a devil—someone who could truly surpass both pureblood devils and Maous. Something so abnormal that people would question if it was even a devil at all."
Sharon spoke slowly, uttering a single term.
"I once heard them refer to that anomaly as..."
"Super Devils"
That was what those devils wanted to research.
Because it was an anomaly that surpassed devils, it could not be obtained through reincarnation.
Because it perhaps could no longer be called a devil, the experiment had to be performed on non-devil creatures.
Thus, they kidnapped creatures of all races for experimentation, including humans.
In the end, such a large-scale operation targeting all races could not remain hidden forever. It drew the attention of the Church, which located and annihilated them.
"You ask why I risk my life for the Church?"
"You ask why I am so hateful and obsessed with devils?"
"This is the reason."
The gaze Sharon directed at Yukinoshita was full of coldness.
"Now, please tell me. Is my thinking wrong?"
"Should I not hate devils?"
"Should I not eliminate devils?"
Faced with Sharon's interrogation, Yukinoshita could find no words to rebut.
"You could say that the reason I joined the Church was specifically to eliminate devils."
"I train hard every day, constantly digging out the potential of this disgusting body, utilizing all these powers that don't belong to humans, even enduring the inspections and research of those fanatics in the Church without hesitation."
"All of it... is to eliminate devils."
Thus, Sharon became an exorcist.
Thus, a devil killer who would use any means necessary to eliminate devils was born.
To destroy devils, she was even willing to defect from the Church and accept an invitation from a suspicious individual to join their organization.
As long as she could obtain the power to eliminate devils, she would sacrifice everything.
"I think you should be able to understand me," Sharon said with a faint, mocking smile. "After all, weren't you once killed by a fallen angel?"
"At that time, did you never think about eliminating all fallen angels?"
"After obtaining power, did you never think about taking revenge on them?"
Hearing this, Yukinoshita bit her lip.
Of course, it was impossible for her to have no grievances.
It was impossible that she hadn't hated them.
However, the culprit had already been turned to ash by Leon. How could she seek him out for revenge?
As for targeting the entire organization of fallen angels... to be honest, she hadn't never thought about it.
It couldn't be helped; the fallen angel who killed her was sent by them, and the organization indeed had a policy of eliminating anyone confirmed as a dangerous element. Naturally, Yukinoshita had grievances against the fallen angels as an organization.
However, having grievances was one thing; she had never thought about killing all fallen angels.
That was too radical. No one except a person who had completely fallen into darkness would think that way.
Of course, Yukinoshita also knew that her situation was completely different from Sharon's.
She had indeed been killed by a fallen angel, but she had felt almost no pain and was ultimately brought back to life. Even if the result was being reincarnated as a devil and serving someone else, that led to grievances at most, not deep-seated hatred.
Sharon was different. She had been tortured; she had felt pain and despair. She had every reason to hate the devils who brought this upon her and found it impossible to let go.
Even though the culprits who did it had been wiped out by the Church, Sharon still could not release that hatred and resentment.
Therefore, the target of her vengeance shifted to all devils.
"—Is it truly right to push the primary responsibility onto everyone just because of the improper actions of a few?"
Complex thoughts surfaced in her mind, but Yukinoshita ultimately followed her heart. True to her usual style, she made a merciless point.
Unfortunately, having done this countless times in the past, she knew exactly what kind of result such words would bring.
"Are you planning to lecture me on morality?" Sharon laughed, appearing so angry that she was amused. "Sure, your way of thinking is probably the 'correct' one, isn't it?"
"But if I only wanted to follow a correct stance, I wouldn't have chosen to stay in the Church."
Although the Church's stance was undoubtedly the "correct" and "just" side in the hearts of the people, Sharon had long seen the various corruptions within it. She had seen experiments just as inhumane as those she had once suffered.
If she only wanted a correct stance, how could she, Sharon Holy-Graal, have chosen to stay in the Church and obey them?
She was clearly the person who should loathe all of it the most.
Therefore—
"From the moment I chose to turn a blind eye to all of it, I was no longer 'correct'."
"I don't need a correct revenge."
"Revenge and hatred have never been correct."
The black aura swirling around Sharon surged violently.
"If you want someone to blame, blame yourself for being a devil."
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