And now he can finally stop holding back. Dragging the dude into his painting is a great start for that since now Yu Yan can help out freely as well.

They should've read the fine print before agreeing to work for that company!

Gotta give him credit for being a smart antagonist and having some sensibilities.

Made sure he was actually fighting the right guy instead of a wild goose chase Refused to send his men into the grinder because he knows full well even if they all jumped him they'd still die. Chose to sacrifice himself for the only shot they had instead of doing some other dumb scheme or the like to at least make sure he goes out on his own terms.

Respect.

This has been an absolute delight.


... and while I would love if more Otome series took cues from this, I sincerely hope none of them ever try to copy it instead of building upon what it's done. Let this stay as something unique and wonderful instead of something that loses appeal thanks to a bunch of imitators flooding the genre later on.

Well as we've seen in prior chapters the system's very blatantly on the Demon Lord's side and is willing to twist its own rules to help her.

So it inflicting maximum punishment on MC unless he finds a way to circumvent it eventually is a given at this point now that we know.

Well this wound up far more wholesome than anyone was expecting.

Can you blame the poor guy? Last chapter one of them was fingering herself in front of him, making sure he could see it all, and asking him to join her. It's amazing he has enough self-restraint to see that as going from 0-100 real fast and trying not to take advantage of it.

tl;dr version of below: Might seem like that but he doesn't really spare folks that much and it's usually only when leaving them alive can be useful.

He only spared her once though? Especially considering that he hasn't actually been threatened at any point here. I mean, I guess if yo consider him asking her to join him instead of having a fight as sparing her you can call it twice but aside from that not really?

He tried to talk her out of being dumb and she refused. That was him giving her a chance to avoid the entire fight which you can count as sparing her, I suppose.
She throws a mook at him that he immediately kills with no hesitation whatsoever. So it's not like he hesitates or shies away from killing or putting down his enemies. Then he basically calls her an idiot for throwing the guy at him and says he'll consume her (so no intention of sparing her at that point since he'd be able to get the info on her skills and stuff that he wanted by consuming her) except he gets interrupted by the holy field. He's still not in any danger or urgent need, so he breaks it for the sake of the people around him.
She sees this and decides to go all-out on him. Since this is just giving him the info he wanted anyway (not that she's aware of it) he pauses and lets her do it. Once her attack on him fails as he now has what he was trying to get without needing to consume her and the fight's pretty obviously decided, he actually spares her and says it's her final chance. He's still in no danger whatsoever and she does have a useful ability, so if he can get her either on his side or to stop being a pest she could be helpful and if not no big deal.
Then she refuses this (second time he offered her an out if you count him trying to avoid the fight to begin with) and he immediately goes to finish her off but Yuki pulls his attention away from her by stomping Shion and then intercepting him eating Maribel.

So basically, if Yuki wasn't there he'd have gone, "Can we avoid fighting? No? Fine I've kicked your ass so stay down. No? Okay you can die then." And if she hadn't actually given him what he wanted in the first place, he'd have just consumed her immediately after offing Gaye and breaking the holy field. And really that feels fair for a "good guy" character. Give em a chance to avoid conflict and a chance to surrender after they lose but decisively end it if they refuse the surrender too. With the obvious exceptions of when they have no connection to you and can't be reasoned with or are actual threats to him or make it personal and so on like Ifrit, the Orc Lord, Clayman, the Farmus Kingdom army, etc. etc. (Seeing just how many opponents he puts down? And that's not even counting how much he okays his subordinates killing people or making them suffer and being fully aware of it.)

If he has to pick a faction to partner up with, I'd say the obvious choice is that he'll pick the one he's basically in charge of now with the tree lady and whatnot.

After robbing the other two factions blind, of course.

This is typical Xianxia bullshit where murder is usually seen as the first and only solution for people who so much as look at you funny. Of course they're gonna see "Automatically murder anyone who so much as thinks my hair looks bad" as totally acceptable and the ones who died are clearly at fault for not being strong enough to avoid instantly dying.

He gave the correct answer too quickly. It hit them right in the pride to get called out like that.

Considering Remilia is an actual villianess rather than a pure hearted misguided person who just happens to be labeled as one?

Neither friendship nor forgiveness are on the table for any of those who were complicit in Emi's betrayal. At best she'll put up a front of kindness and generosity because Emi would actually be kind towards them.... and knowing Remilia, she'd be getting her enjoyment out of finding ways to ensure they kept suffering behind the scenes as a lifelong punishment for their actions.

Yellowman is the real MVP here.

Well well well.... looks like instead of just getting patsies he'll end up getting something far more valuable.

Assuming he's able to manage them well enough after this whole thing is sorted out.

It's hilarious how this girl somehow thinks she's still in control in even the slightest here despite how everything she's done blowing up in her face every time. Like, you have a 0-1000 win/loss record and think that surely THIS time you're getting that W? Despite everything you've seen so far showing that your opponent isn't even bothering to take you seriously?

I hope we get a satisfying expression from her when she kicks the bucket.... and I hope her death comes with her having just enough time to realize how utterly and completely screwed she had been from the start because of her own choices.

Are you forgetting about how he became a Demon Lord in the first place? Even here, he basically told her "You get one chance to back down and if you don't I kill you" and then was going to follow through before Yuki interrupted him.

MC just doesn't want to start shit with people but he's shown multiple times now that while he won't throw the first punch he can, will, and does throw the last one because if you screw with him he'll kill you or leave you to wish you were dead. Just ask Clayman how much MC tried to "befriend" him.

Amusingly enough, this confirms that he doesn't have to realize they know for him to be penalized for it.

Makes the other one even more clever for managing to figure things out in a way that didn't leave him hurt really.

... Yeah that checks out for how she is, really.

These two idiots jumping head first into sacrificing themselves for each other. I love them.

What a difference between how they were with Cyril's absolute garbage "mother" when she fell and none of them even pretended to be concerned for her thus leaving her to her fate.... and when Fia falls and they're all immediately diving in to make sure she gets out of it unharmed.

Just goes to show that woman truly earned what she deserved since had she been even slightly less of a total bitch to everyone around her, they'd have likely rescued her if only out of a sense of obligation to Fia's past self.

And let's not forget that the tame mark she has with the Dragon is one that shows it offered absolutely no resistance whatsoever to her. Which is usually looked down upon by the less informed of a sign of having a weak familiar since the stronger they are, the more of a struggle they put up (and thus larger the mark). So he sees this, knows full well her familiar is a stupidly powerful Dragon, and has essentially immediately submitted to her as far above him in an art he thought he knew more intimately than anyone else.