The place the elderly gentleman led him to was a run-down mansion in the general student residential area. Somni, who had fully expected to be brought to the estate of some royal or high noble, blinked in bewilderment as they stopped before what appeared to be the mansion's living room.
Halting before the door, the elderly gentleman turned around.
"Listen closely. With very few exceptions, the individuals inside are more powerful and terrifying than anyone else in this world. Mind your manners and conduct yourself with the utmost courtesy."
He drove the point home with an intensely malicious grin. The corners of his mouth stretched almost to his ears, and both of his eyes were stained a deep crimson. Gulping at an appearance that seemed distinctly inhuman, Somni tucked in his chin and nodded.
"Y-Yes, sir!"
He gave his assent without hesitation. It was what one might call pure primal instinct. In that moment, Somni was seized by the absolute conviction that he must never cross this old man.
His expression returning to a pleasant smile, the elderly gentleman gave a satisfied nod and knocked on the wooden door.
"Enter."
At the sound of a man's thick, gravelly voice, the door swung slowly open.
"Eek?!"
A shriek tore from Somni's throat. For once, he couldn't fault himself for being a coward. The vast majority of those present inside bore forms that could hardly be called human.
Standing there in imposing majesty were a giant long-nosed monster, a beast with the head of a lion, a dragon-headed man, a red-haired youth with vermilion wings sprouting from his back, a breathtaking silver-haired woman with nine tails, and a tall man with horns on his forehead and sanpaku eyes.
(This is bad!)
Why? He didn't know, but being near them was downright lethal. That much, he understood to a sickening degree.
His heart pounded wildly enough to burst from his chest, and his breath came in ragged gasps. Forcing his trembling knees to stay upright as his vision began to blur, he fought with everything he had to keep from blacking out.
"Ho. How unusual for a human to perceive our power. It seems his instincts are quite sharp."
At the winged youth's remark, the sanpaku-eyed man with horns on his forehead crossed his arms and muttered with deep interest.
"Can you even call it instinct? This brat's got a pretty accurate read on us."
"I have heard that some humans awaken special abilities when backed into a corner. Might it be something of that nature?"
As the monster with the lion's head mused aloud, the sanpaku-eyed man chimed in.
"Well, he's a damn sight better than those insolent undead bastards, at any rate."
"In any case, we cannot simply leave him in this state."
The long-nosed monster clapped his hands together with a sharp crack. In an instant, the crushing dread that had suffocated the room vanished completely.
"My, aren't you quite deft for someone of your stature?"
As the silver-haired woman murmured in admiration, the dragon-headed monster scoffed.
"Hmph! That fellow has always had an absurd knack for petty, superficial parlor tricks."
"I care to hear no such slander from a lizard who relies purely on brute force," the long-nosed monster snapped back with a sneer.
"A gloomy brute like you dares call me a lizard?"
The dragon-headed monster glared with bloodshot eyes as a small plume of fire vented from his jaws, while the long-nosed monster's third eye gleamed with an ominous light.
"Beelzebub-de-boo♬ Beelzebub-de-boo♪"
Accompanied by a bizarre, hummed tune, a bipedal fly abruptly materialized in the center of the room.
In the same breath, the bipedal fly dropped to its knees facing the door at the far end of the room. In a total reversal from the hostile tension of a second before, all the monstrous beings turned in unison and knelt in the same direction.
As the elderly gentleman and a black skeleton man reverently pushed open the door, several figures stepped inside.
The moment Somni caught sight of the black-haired youth walking at their center—
"—?!"
He gasped in sheer disbelief. And how could he not? For standing right in the middle of those hooded figures was none other than Kai Heinemann—the very person Somni had looked down upon as an utter apostate until just a short while ago.