The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　He chose to run away without hesitation.

　Running across the boundless land, he stood out starkly from the creatures around him, a unique figure in this lifeless world, like a flame flickering in a dark forest, extremely eye-catching. Now that the ferryman of the Styx had noticed him, he wouldn't let him disappear from his sight again.

　The scene inside the crystal ball suddenly accelerated.

　Once the scene stabilizes, the perspective shifts back to the "Third Demon King".

　The "Third Demon King" kept looking back at the location of the ferryman of the River Styx while he was on the run.

　Each time he turned around, the ferryman of the Styx drew closer. After several turns, the ferryman was already quite close behind him.

　Knowing he could no longer escape, he was filled with rage and turned to attack the ferryman of the River Styx.

　Then, with a flash of black light, the "Third Demon King" was cleaved in two by the ferryman of the Styx.

　Then the scene suddenly froze.

　Professor Steven Harvey stopped what he was doing, looked up, and said, "I'm awake now."

　The moment he was cleaved in two by the ferryman of the River Styx, the "Third Demon King" awoke from his dream.

　To get him back into the dream, we need to start all over again.

　But Professor Harvey had been experimenting all day and needed a short break.

　He got up, walked to the table, poured himself a glass of hot water, took a sip, and asked with a teasing smile, "So, have you figured out the connection between the Demon King and the Hero?"

　But as soon as he finished speaking, Professor Lily looked at the scene in the crystal ball and said, "A demon king is a demon king, but a hero is not necessarily a hero."

　"That hits the nail on the head," Dark couldn't help but praise.

　Professor Steven Harvey deliberately evoked this dream scenario and then suddenly raised this question; there can only be one explanation.

　The ferryman of the River Styx has a strong connection to Brightgold. "This is boring," Professor Harvey shook his head.

　Sometimes it's not good when everyone around you is too smart.

　He then said, "In the final battle, Brightgold used the demonic sword 'Netherworld Mark' to banish his demonized half to the underworld. That half did not dissipate but fell to the banks of the River Styx, merging with the souls of the dead."

　Professor Sylph frowned and said, "You mean, Brightgold's demonized half-body has become something similar to this demon king's soul?"

　Professor Harvey explained, "This is a deduction I made using memories I obtained from the Third Demon King's mind. The activation condition for the 'Underworld Imprint' is to sacrifice oneself to a certain Underworld God. However, the Underworld God has not yet awakened and naturally cannot accept it. His demonized half-body, banished to the Underworld, thus became tainted by the Underworld God's karma, gaining some special characteristics. This provided the foundation for his advancement to the Ferryman of the River Styx."

　"How can we be sure that this ferryman of the Styx is Brightgold's demonic half?" Dark asked emphatically.

　Professor Harvey shook his head and said, "After you've seen it, you'll understand." After resting for a while, Professor Harvey returned to the "isotope" and continued his work.

　Once the "identical body" re-enters the dream under the guidance of the dream-making machine, the scene in the crystal ball is quickly reconstructed.

　Although the soul of the "Third Demon King" was split in two by the ferryman of the Styx, no one believed that he would simply vanish—in fact, it was impossible.

　This time, the dream skipped that scene entirely, and when it reappeared, the "Third Demon King's" soul had changed its appearance.

　The reason is not hard to guess.

　Because he had prepared a new vessel for a certain demonic creature beforehand. After he was killed by the ferryman of the River Styx with a single stroke of his oar, he was reborn within this new vessel.

　After that, he began to endure, kill, devour, and grow stronger.

　Dak observed the dream changes

　Instead, he witnessed the entire process of the Demon King's reincarnation and the assimilation of the vessel into his own appearance.

　The reincarnation of the "Undying Demon King" is not merely a reincarnation on the level of the soul. Although it takes some time to recover, he is able to transfer all his power and special abilities to a new vessel.

　Finally, even the body's bloodline will be assimilated to the original form. However, achieving this effect is not without its requirements.

　The first step is to carefully select a suitable container. One requirement for the container is that it must be a demon.

　Therefore, exterminating the demon race is also one of the effective ways to prevent the Demon King from being reborn.

　In reality, however, it is impossible for humanity to exterminate the demon race. Even with all their might, they can only reduce the demon population to a certain extent.

　Even in the real world, there are still many demons hiding. And the vessels of the Demon King are even more numerous and unknown.

　Therefore, even now, it is impossible to prevent the Demon King from committing suicide and being reborn. The same situation exists in the Underworld.

　Even the Demon King probably didn't expect that there would be a large number of demons in the underworld.

　Although those demons were completely different from the demons in his memory who were born and died for desire.

　But they do belong to the demon race.

　Many of them even met the requirements for making containers. As time went on...

　The "Third Demon King" is gradually becoming stronger.

　Finally, one day, he approached the ferryman of the River Styx again and challenged him.

　Then they were killed.

　This time, however, he fought the ferryman of the River Styx for three hundred rounds before dying.

　He thus thoroughly understood the strength level of the ferryman of the River Styx. After reincarnating in a new vessel, he continued to grow stronger.

　When he challenged the ferryman of the River Styx again, he finally gained the upper hand.

　But just when Dark and the others thought he was about to win, he was pushed into the River Styx by the ferryman. Instantly, countless skeletons emerged from them, dragging him forcefully to the bottom of the River Styx.

　Those skeletons seemed to be a collection of desires, as if the desires of all living things and the dead along the riverbank were absorbed by the River Styx and eventually transformed into those terrifying skeletons that would drag the dead into the River Styx and assimilate them.

　The "Third Demon King" chose to commit suicide before being dragged to the bottom of the river, thus finally escaping.

　He reincarnated once more within the vessel, then returned with a vengeance. This time, he finally killed and devoured the ferryman of the River Styx!

　The whole incident has progressed to this point.

　It can be described as the ultimate demonstration of the "Undying Demon King's" immortality. He was never even a match for the Ferryman of the Styx, but in the end, he was able to kill and devour the Ferryman of the Styx. He went through many deaths and rebirths before finally succeeding in achieving his goal.

　But what the professors wanted to see was not the process, but only the final result!

　But after the "Third Demon King" killed and devoured the ferryman of the Styx, his entire body suddenly became blurry and indistinct, and could no longer be clearly seen. Naturally, it became impossible to determine what he looked like after devouring the ferryman of the Styx.

　But this dream-like performance ends here.

　Professor Steven Harvey stopped his work, stood up, and said, "This is all the memories of Brightgold in the 'isotope's' brain."

　Professor Sylph frowned and said, "After he devoured the Ferryman of the Styx, he became the Ferryman of the Styx."

　Professor Harvey said, "It's obvious."

　Professor Kazel said, "Only after becoming the ferryman of the River Styx did the Demon King gain the ability to escape from the Underworld. Of course, the right time, place, and people are all indispensable. The biggest reason he was able to escape was because a rift connecting to the Underworld was opened here."

　Dark asked, "How can we be sure that the ferryman of the underworld who was devoured was Brightgold's demonized half?"

　Professor Harvey said, "It's still speculation."

　“He doesn’t have Brightgold’s memories,” Dark said. “That’s not surprising,” Professor Harvey said.

　"Then it's just an empty shell," Dark said. "You can think of it that way," Professor Harvey said.

　The "Third Demon King" devoured the ferrymen of the underworld. Not only did he gain the rank of ferryman of the Styx, but he was also assimilated into the appearance of a ferryman of the Styx.

　If Professor Harvey's speculation is correct, then this is why the "Third Demon Lord" has Brightgold's face.

　Brightgold's demonized half had no memories, and even after being devoured, it did not provide the "Third Demon Lord" with any knowledge.

　Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to secretly learn magic techniques at St. Marian Academy.

　After careful consideration, Dark and the others accepted Professor Harvey's explanation.

　Then, Professor Lily's eyes suddenly lit up as she looked at the two [identical bodies] and said, "So, according to you, the two [Demon King's identical bodies] lying here are both ferrymen of the River Styx?"

　Professor Harvey said, "That's right, that's their added value." Dark said, "No wonder he can still use the power of the underworld, now I understand."

　All the problems have been resolved.

　Dark asked, "After the Third Demon King commits suicide and is reborn, will he still retain the rank of Ferryman of the River Styx?"

　Professor Harvey said, "Theoretically, if this is a skill..."

　After a long silence, Dak finally spoke, saying, "It's all the Holy Church's fault."

　This "Third Demon King" is, in essence, a product of the "Demon King Execution Ritual".

　No matter what, it's impossible to blame...

　So, since it was the Holy Church's fault, they should pay the price. "Dark is right, we can't take the blame!"

　As silence fell over the laboratory, Principal Arte suddenly pushed open the door and entered.

　She wasn't even here, yet it seemed like she watched the whole thing.

　"The Demon Lord Aleister Aldrich has returned from the Underworld. They must understand clearly that this is the Demon Lord sent to the Underworld by the Holy Church during their execution ritual. And nothing else... um..."

　Principal Art glanced at Dark's card pouch and continued, "There can't be three Demon Lords... oh, there can't be five. Apart from the Demon Lord who returned from the Underworld, the rest are imposters. All the people who witnessed the Demon Lord's execution ceremony are witnesses."

　"Of course, when facing the Demon King, we stand on the same side as the Holy Church, so it is necessary to provide them with a warning."

　St. Maryann's College has always been, to some extent, a "one-man show".

　As the principal, Saint Arte Cynthia always received unanimous support from top to bottom, no matter how capricious her decisions were.

　And this time, there was no exception.

　Further research on the "Demon King's counterpart" is needed.

　However, the connection between the previous hero Brightgold and the third demon king is already basically clear.

　This "Demon King's counterpart" is merely a product of the Third Demon King devouring the Styx Ferryman.

　That face and that power belonged to Brightgold's demonized half-body, not Brightgold himself.

　The sacrifice of the previous generation's hero is sealed. This secret is best kept hidden forever.

　then.

　Surrounded by the professors, Dak walked out of the laboratory and onto the open ground outside.

　Professor Kazel said, "It has been twelve hours since dawn. If the Third Demon King is successfully reincarnated, the First and Second Demon Kings should be able to sense it."

　Dark took "Demon King Aleister" and "Demon King Aldrich" out of his card pack and muttered, "I hope so."

　After that, he chose to summon "Demon King Aleister" first. Although "Demon King Aleister" was more dangerous, "Demon King Aldrich" could only make soft noises. In fact, "Demon King Aleister" was easier to communicate with.

　Dark gave "Demon King Aleister" a few more commands and then asked if it sensed them.

　However, the final result was not good.

　"Demon Lord Aleister" explicitly stated that he had not sensed any "similar aura" other than "Demon Lord Aldrich." After multiple confirmations, Dark switched to "Demon Lord Aldrich," but the final result remained the same.

　Professor Harvey said, "Neither of the two Demon Lords could detect the presence of the Third Demon Lord. It seems he has chosen a 'hibernation-style' rebirth."

　Professor Kazel said, "The Demon King in hibernation will not immediately take over the vessel's body, nor will it leak any aura. Unless it stands directly in front of you as last time, it will be impossible to detect it."

　“This third demon king is indeed cunning.” But Principal Arte said with a smile, “Prepare some crystal balls of varying quality. We’ll shoot a few films tomorrow and give the Holy Church a great gift.”

　The crowd looked at each other, some helpless and some laughing.

　Dark released the two "Demon Kings" from their summons, checked the time, and reminded them, "Headmaster, it's almost nine o'clock."

　"It's almost nine o'clock," Principal Arte said, feigning surprise. Dark rolled his eyes and said, "Let's go, the students must be getting impatient."

　Inside the castle, at the door of the principal's office.

　All the pre-contestants except Darko have gathered. But to say they're "anxious" is an understatement. Every opportunity to make a wish upon the Holy Grail is extremely rare.

　Even sixth-grade graduates don't have many opportunities to make a wish. Even Pandora and Drogon are seriously considering what they still lack.

　The greedy have nothing. The ungrateful have nothing either.

　Making a wish upon the "Holy Grail" can be a way to seek stability, but one shouldn't be overly concerned with stability. And there are always some things that, while not rare, are extremely difficult for us to change.

　Thinking about what to wish for is also a process of identifying and filling in any gaps in one's knowledge.

　The students thought carefully and discussed with each other, but not many were able to determine their wish goals on the spot.

　At nine o'clock sharp.

　A sound suddenly came from the principal's office, which should have been empty. "Click."

　The students then saw the door to the principal's office open from the inside. Then, Darkdemon's face was revealed.

　"They've all arrived."

　Dak glanced at them and confirmed there were eleven people. He then opened the door and led them inside.

　"Something came up tonight?" Senior Pandora asked in a low voice. Dark nodded slightly and said, "It's all taken care of."